All the Right Moves
by blueblackmask
Summary: HikaruXOCXKaoru "I found myself standing before their gate, and either out of curiosity or animosity I wanted a way in. They were so twisted, so cruel, but that only made me want to push forward. I will prove that they were not alone, and that they were wrong. To do that, I will have to perform my greatest routine. I will have to have All the Right Moves." (1st part is Pre-Haruhi)
1. The Greatest Chase

A/N: Salutations and welcome to my story. I just want to make a few things clear before you read this story. I am going to write about two arcs of my own creation before Haruhi comes into the picture. This is kind of the story before the story. After watching Ouran High School Host Club I became fascinated with the twins and they instantly became my favorite characters. Their story and background interest me so much that I couldn't keep my muse to myself any longer. This first arc is the involvement of my own character (an OC, obviously) becoming intertwined with the twins. The second arc more or less involves the actual Host Club. While this plot if far from original, I hope you enjoy my spin. And please, feel free to ask any questions or criticize my work. That is what reviewing if for after all ;)

-blue

* * *

**All the Right Moves**

Chapter 1: The Greatest Chase

* * *

_I never realized how much I hated hospitals until I was actually in one. I mean, I think I felt worse IN the hospital than I would in a sewer system. Everything about the place made me uncomfortable. The doctors with their fake smiles that accompanied bearings of bad news; the nurses and their needles; and even that annoying buzzing sound that came from the florescent lights. But, I think the worst of it all was the smell: sick people mixed with chemicals and vitamins. It just made me want to vomit everything I had for lunch. Or maybe that was just the anesthetic…_

* * *

Maxine Belle Chase was slowly slipping back into consciousness. And as she did, Maxine became more aware of how she felt as if she had been hit by a bus.

Her body felt like lead and ached everywhere. There was an unexplainable dulled pain along her back, the soles of her feet and hands, and across her face. Not to mention her brain pounded like a jackhammer against her skull every time blood pumped through the veins in her temples. A groan escaped her lips as she raised her hand to apply some kind of pressure to relieve the pain, only to find something was tugging on it.

Confused, she opened her eyes, only to quickly close them again due to the bright light that burned her retinas. Maxine had to blink several times before her eyes became adjusted to the lighting of the small room.

Taking a quick glance around, Maxine found that she dwelled in a hospital room. The blinding white walls, beeping monitors, scratchy sheets, and an I.V. drip (which explained why her hand was constrained) made it all too clear where she was.

It didn't explain, however, how or why she was there.

Maxine groped around until she grabbed the side railing of her bed and hoisted her body into a more comfortable sitting position. Instantly she regretted it, as the movement had made her body realize how nauseated it felt.

She quickly leaned over the side of the bed and puked up the contents of her stomach onto the white tiled floor. After a few last dry heaves, Maxine leaned back against the upright mattress, panting, and with the taste of bile now in her mouth.

"That's not good enough!" The sound of a fist hitting something solid made Maxine start. It came from outside her door, and she was able to make out two silhouettes through the frosted glass window. The voice was recognizable, but Maxine wasn't sure from where, exactly, she had heard it before. She blamed the lack of recollection on the anesthetic. She's heard that it could really screw with a person's body, although she didn't realize it would make her this…incoherent.

"N-now, Mr. P-Prince-I mean Chase, please understand that we did everything we could. B-but most of the injuries she has acquired are too s-sever to fully heal." The other dark figure raised his hands, open-palmed, as if the gesture would help the other calm down.

It didn't seem to work.

"So you're saying that she's going to carry those scars for the rest of her life?" The man practically growled there was so much anger laced within his voice. Maxine thought how glad she was not to be in the other guy's shoes. But then again, her position didn't seem to be all that great right now either.

The man, a doctor if Maxine had to guess, stuttered in his response so much that she couldn't make out everything he said. But the answer was obvious.

"Thank you, doctor." A female voice cut in before the angry man could say anymore. Her silhouette moved from beside him and into Maxine's view. The woman stood only an inch shorter than the man, but her figure was much slighter than his. "We're going to see her now. We will call if we need anything."

Her tone made no room for argument, but Maxine did not doubt the doctor was more than happy to leave. The doorknob clicked and the two figures walked into Maxine's room.

They did not look anything like what Maxine had pictured in her head. She figured the bulky man to have the appearance of a stereotypical muscle head. Dumb looks and all. However, his features were soft: smooth tanned skin, silky dark hair mused in a messy fashion, and big green eyes that sparkled with brilliance. Only his body was solid. Large muscles bulged in his arms as he crossed them over his broad, t-shirt covered chest, and a sleeve of tattoo's adored the left limb. His body screamed intimidation, but his smile and soft eyes spoke a different language. He looked eighteen, but the roundness of his face suggested he couldn't be much older than fifteen.

The woman had a striking resemblance to the young man. Her features carried the same dark hair color, tanned soft skin, and large green eyes. But that's where the similarities stopped. She wore glasses, blacked rimmed, and shaped in that of slanted, round rectangles. They suited her, making her appearance seem more professional instead of childish. Her figure was tall and lean; she had to at least be 5'10" and a size two. While she looked professional, she did not appear to be as strict as Maxine imagined. The voice the woman had used outside the room had a distinct air of command to it; however, in this room that impression had completely disappeared. Her features were just as soft as the man's.

The two apparently did not expect Maxine to be awake, as their eyes had given their surprise away with a slight widening. The woman gasped and put a hand to her mouth, as if to shove the sound back in. Her eyes watered behind her glasses.

"Oh, Maxi." The man said, as if heartbroken.

Maxine looked at the two blankly. She should know them. The two were so familiar to her. But their names just kept escaping her hazy mind.

Damn drugs.

The man pushed a button on the side of the wall and called for a janitor in the speaker, while the woman moved to the other side of Maxine's bed and grabbed her un-tube-injected hand and squeezed it.

The dulled pain seared in Maxine's palm and she drew back her hand with a hiss. Looking down at it she saw that her hand was wrapped in gauze.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Max!" The woman quickly apologized. But Maxine heeded her no mind as she slowly began to unwrap the white fabric from her hand.

"You shouldn't do that, Maxi. It's not pretty." The man said. A knock at the door alerted the three to the janitor coming in, but none paid him any mind as he quickly cleaned the vomit and left.

Maxine ignored the man's warning and continued to unwrap until the last piece fell from her hand. He was right. It wasn't pretty. The palm of Maxine's hand was covered with lacerations that had been bandaged or stitched up, the largest running diagonally across the entire length of her hand. A few of the smaller ones branched up along her fingers. She tried bending a few, and winched. These cuts were still pretty fresh; the skin was still tight and raw.

Sliding her eyes to her other hand, Maxine gingerly removed the bandages from it as well, but made sure not to remove the tubes that embedded her skin. Her left hand was in the same condition as her right, but there were no serious cuts that required stitches.

Confusion ran through her mind, and she looked at the two beside her. They just watched her with sad and guarded eyes.

"What…" Maxine trailed off as a thought suddenly struck her. Looking down, she grabbed the sheets (using as little palm surface as possible) and threw them back to reveal her long legs.

"Max, what are you doing?"

Ignoring the man's question, Maxine swung her legs over the side of the bed. The movement took more effort than she thought. Looking down, she saw that her feet were covered in gauze as well, and as if to confirm her suspicion, Maxine stepped off her bed. As soon as her feet hit the ground she yelped and leapt right back onto her bed to take the pressure off her cut up feet.

"Max don't do that! Oh no, you opened up your stitches." The woman said when red began to seep through the gauze on her right foot.

Tears stung Maxine's eyes as she bit her lip, trying to keep them from falling. That proved difficult, as the tension made the ache more intense across her face. Automatically she reached up to touch the area between her eyes, but the man caught her wrist.

Maxine snapped her eyes open to see his calm green ones right in front of her. After a second, he placed a hand mirror in her hand with a heartbroken smile. "You're only making it worse, Maxi. Just try not to freak out after you see these, okay?"

He waited for her to give a small nod before moving away. Maxine looked at him, before looking at the woman, who was silently crying now, and then she looked in the mirror.

Not three seconds later, the mirror crashed to the floor in pieces, as it had slipped from her fingers and her face froze in horror.

* * *

_The doctor said I was lucky. Just a few more centimeters and I would have lost my sight. The cut that marred my face ran from my left cheek bone, across the bridge of my nose, and ended just above my right eyebrow. An almost perfect diagonal cut. _

_I didn't feel lucky though, I felt more like a butcher's favorite blade block. In addition to my face, hands, and feet, my back had the most cuts. Some small, and would heal in two weeks, but most were deep and I would carry them for the rest of my life. How did I get these? Well…_

* * *

"Miss Maxine Chase would you please approach the bench?"

The ten year old girl was frozen in her seat with her head ducked down.

"Max?"

She let out a small whimper as she looked up at the man sitting next to her: Joseph Chase. Joey. Brother.

His kind eyes watched her, seeing the fear she desperately was trying to hide. She wanted to be strong like him, like Tori too. They've already sacrificed so much to help her. The least she could do was this.

With one last squeeze from his hand, Maxine stood and walked to the bench and the bailiff. He held the Bible out to her and she placed her hand on it and raised the other.

"Do you solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?" He asked.

"I do." Maxine replied. He nodded his head and she sat down.

The defense's lawyer stepped towards Maxine. He was intimidating to say the least. Mr. Baldwin, if Maxine heard correctly. And he was the best lawyer money could buy, all the way down to his polished leather Dockers.

"Ms. Chase, is it?"

Maxine nodded her head.

"Your name was Ms. Princeton not two days ago. Can you tell me why that is?"

Maxine couldn't understand what this man was getting at, but she promised to tell the truth, so she did.

"My brother and sister changed it, along with theirs. It's our mother's maiden name."

Mr. Baldwin smiled in a way Maxine didn't like, nor understood. It was as if he was trying to look friendly, but failing miserable at it. "And why did they do that?"

"She divorced our father, and Joey and Tori say they wants nothing to do with him."

"And why is that?"

"…I don't know."

Mr. Baldwin's smile grew so wide it was like looking at the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland. "And tell me, Ms. Chase, do you recognize that man sitting over there?"

Mr. Baldwin pointed toward the desk sitting across the aisle from Maxine's siblings. He pointed at a man in a pristine black suit, and his dark hair combed to the side. He looked very distinguished, as if he was a born and raised a blue blood. Maxine had never seen a more intimidating man in her entire life.

"No."

* * *

_Amnesia: the loss of one's memory due to unusual brain injury, shock, fatigue, repression, or illness. I had it, but I had no idea as to what caused it. And because of it, I couldn't recognize anyone. I couldn't even recognize my own father or my siblings that had cared for me since I woke up in the hospital. Nor could I remember how I had gotten the scars on my body._

_Tori and Joey believe our father is to blame for everything. You see, something happened the night before I woke in the hospital, and they believe he was the catalyst. They believe he's the reason I have scars and amnesia. They believe he's the reason our mother's signature was on divorce papers and is now in a coma. _

_But there is a difference between believing and knowing. And because mother is in a coma and I have amnesia they have no way of proving it was him, and so he got off scotch-free._

_We have another sister, Jackie, who was home that night, but she never testified against our father. In fact, she said the entire incident had to have been an accident. Our father would have never laid hands our mother or me. She said she didn't see anything because she was in her room that night and never heard a thing until the police sirens were outside the house, but Tori had her doubts. Tori said that Jackie always wanted to please our father and would do anything to stay in his good graces. I had no clue why, but then, how could I when I couldn't even remember my own sister?_

_The judge decided to freeze the case until further evidence could be brought forward to either prove or disprove our father's innocence. Meaning, until my amnesia goes away or my mother wakes up, my father was a free man._

_Enraged, Tori decided to move out from under our father's roof and take me with her. I'm not sure how she was able to gain custody of me, but she was at the top of her class in Harvard Law School, so I figured it had to do something with that. It helped that our father didn't seem to care, and didn't put up a fight about us leaving. It was when Joey decided to go with us that he threw a tantrum._

* * *

"Joey, do you really want to do this?" Tori looked at her younger brother as if she couldn't believe he was standing in front of her with his bags packed.

The boy nodded and looked down at his younger sister, Maxine, who was holding onto her sister's jean pocket with one hand, and her small suitcase with the other. She stared at her brother, also wondering why he would want to do this.

He bent down and kissed Maxine on her forehead, a notion that Maxine had learned—re-learned— to mean he cared for her.

"The bastard threatened to disown me if I left with you guys. I don't care. I could never forgive him for what he did to mom and Max."

"I'm surprised he threatened you. You're his only son. You should know how much that means to him. He's already legally disowned Max and me. He's frozen all my accounts, and stopped paying for my school."

Maxine looked down at her feet with tears rolling down her cheeks and guilt building in her belly. She couldn't understand why these two would leave their life of luxury and comfort, just for her. She barely even knew them, or at least she doesn't remember them to know them. This was all so confusing. Did they really care that much about her? Why didn't her other older sister, Jackie, care?

"Come on, Maxi, please don't cry."

Maxine looked up at her brother. He was smiling at her so genuinely that she cried even harder. Tori bent down and hugged her, and Joey hugged them both with his massive arms. "We love you, Maxi," Joey said, "and if that bastard wants nothing to do with you, I want nothing to do with him or that company."

"Watch your language, she's ten years old." Tori scowled her brother. It only caused him to laugh. Which in turn cause Maxine to laugh, but it sounded like hick-ups with sobs still in her throat.

"Where are we going?" Maxine asked.

"We're going to go live with our mother's parents that live in Japan for a while. Do you remember Obaa-san and Ojii-san?" Tori asked.

Maxine shook her head with shame. She couldn't even remember Tori or Joey before the accident, how could she remember her grandparents that lived all the way in Japan?

Tori only smiled. "_That's okay. Do you remember Japanese?"_

Maxine instantly recognized what her sister asked, even though it wasn't in English. It only made her feel guiltier. She remembered a foreign language like she grew up speaking it, but she couldn't remember the people that cared for her.

Maxine nodded her head and replied in perfect Japanese, "_Yes, I remember it very well."_

Maxine looked up to see hurt on her sisters face, but Tori quickly turned her frown into a smile and said, "Good, that will make it much easier for you when we get there. I'm afraid Obaa-san's English isn't any better since the last time we saw her."

"You'd think she would learn since her husband is American. I mean, I guess they don't have to speak the same language to— oh!" Joey said before he was smacked on the head by Tori. Maxine laughed at the irritated look the two gave each other.

* * *

_We moved to Japan for two reasons. The first reason was to be closer to our comatose mother. Since our parents divorced before the accident, our father felt no obligation to pay for the hospital bills. As such, our grandparents took over the care of their daughter, but that meant moving her to a hospital closer to their home._

_The second being our grandparents hated our father, even before the accident. So when they heard what happened they welcomed us with open arms, happy to get their beloved grandchildren away from their son-in-law ("her mistake", as they liked to call him). We noticed a complication, however, a few months into living with them._

_Our grandparents, while loving and caring, did not have much money, unlike our father who owned a major corporation in the entertainment industry. Between paying for our mother's hospital bills and their own home and finances, they barely had enough to feed us. Luckily, Tori, being the most intelligent out of us, anticipated this. Once she and Joey found part time jobs and saved up enough money, we moved into a small apartment a little over a year later._

_They refused to let me get a job to help pay for the bills. The only work for an eleven year old would be in a sweat shop, they would say, and they would hear no arguments. So I did what I could around the apartment. I did all the cooking and cleaning so my siblings wouldn't have to worry about it when they got home, exhausted from their jobs. _

_I noticed after a while that the money they earned still wasn't enough. They couldn't get full-time jobs because they both attended school. Joey got into Ouran Public High School and Tori was able to earn enough scholarship money to go back to Law School. It wasn't until midway through the semester I found out how they were able to pay for everything._

* * *

Knock. Knock. Knock.

A twelve year old Maxine looked up from her school book at the clock on the wall.

"Who on earth could that be at this hour?" She wondered out loud, before climbing off her mattress on the floor (they couldn't afford bed frames), and she threw her body weight against her bedroom door as she turned the handle (it was the only way to open it).

In the hallway, Maxine noticed the light was on in Tori's room. Not realizing her sister was home, she looked into Tori's room since the door was already open. What Maxine saw made her frown.

Tori was sitting at her desk they had found at a garage sale. She was slumped over one of her giant text books, sleeping on her arms with her glasses still on. She must had started studying as soon as she got home from work, Maxine figured, since she still had her uniform on and her waitress apron still around her hips.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

"I'm coming, hold your horses." Maxine mumbled as she shut Tori's door as quietly as she could. The short walk from the bedroom hallway to the front door in the living room took less than 15 steps. Before Maxine opened the door she remembered her sibling's warning about "stranger danger."

Since she was too short to look through the peep-hole, Maxine made sure the lock was secure before calling out, "who is it?"

"It's me, Maxi. Please open the door. I forgot my key."

Recognizing her brother's deep voice, Maxine rushed to unlock and open the door. When she did, he all but fell into the apartment, only catching himself on the kitchenette counter, which was right next to the door.

"Joey! What's wrong?" Maxine rushed to help him up. While he was well over twice her size, Maxine was able to help support him over to one of their shabby looking couches that their grandparents had given them when they got new furniture.

"I was hoping you weren't awake, Maxi." Joey muttered as he slowly lifted his head to look at her.

"Why would y—" Maxine paused mid-sentence when she saw her brother's face. His right eye was swollen shut and his lip was busted open. Upon seeing his face, Maxine took notice that his shirt was torn and what skin was exposed was blotched with bruises and blood. He looked like an overused punching bag, and now she knew why he didn't want her awake. Maxine was frozen at the sight of her brother's beaten body, and she started shaking violently.

"Shit, I didn't want—Tori!" Joey shouted for his older sister.

A commotion sounded from Tori's room before she rushed into the living room with her glasses and hair still disheveled. It took her all of three seconds to understand what was going on.

"Oh no," Tori moved to grab the frozen Maxine's shoulders and steer her into the hallway, away from their brother. "Please go to bed, we'll explain later. I'm sorry you had to find out like this."

* * *

_It turns out Joey would enter into underground fights for extra money to pay for what his job couldn't. After that I begged them to let me get a job, but they still refused. Joey argued he liked fighting, and wanted to do it. He told me that when we still lived in the U.S. he was the best MMA fighter in the city and enjoyed it, and since he made the fights so entertaining he got a lot of money even if he lost. I thought he was insane._

_The next day, Tori and Joey introduced me to an activity that they said I was the best at before the accident. I had no clue what they were talking about until they took me to my school's gymnasium._

_At first I thought they were even more insane when they said I was a gymnast, and the best at that._

* * *

"You guys are insane. There is no way I am doing this," Maxine said and she watched a girl do a round off, two whips, a flip, and then a tuck on the floor. It then struck Maxine as odd that she knew those terms.

"Just try it, Maxi. A few years ago, you were the best of the best. I can't believe we didn't push you to try this again sooner," Joey replied.

"A few years ago, I had memory of what I was doing," Maxine shot back.

"Just go and try it!" Tori said, using that voice that scared Maxine into doing anything her sister wanted.

"_It's a no wonder she wants to be a lawyer."_ Maxine thought to herself as she sighed and walked over to the balance beam. She eyed it then looked back at her siblings who gave her encouraging smiles. Sighing one last time, Maxine hoisted herself onto the beam.

* * *

_It was like riding a bicycle. Once I got on that beam it was like I remembered everything I had learned in my years before the accident. While I couldn't remember my coach or team, I remembered every move and how to execute it to the T._

_Turns out, Tori and Joey weren't the only ones watching me perform on the beam. The Ouran Public Middle School's coach saw and instantly jumped at the chance to encourage me to try-out for the team when I graduated from Ouran Public Primary School next year._

_Tori and Joey were thrilled, but I wasn't. At school, I was a social-pariah in a way. Not many kids wanted to associate with the American-transfer student with a giant scar across her face. Some kids were even terrified to come near me. And when most don't want to be friends with me — everyone didn't. So I didn't have any friends, and I didn't want to be stuck at school longer than I had to. But my siblings were persistent._

_So when the first day of middle school came around, I tried-out for the gymnastics team. Just to make them happy._

_I made the team with flying colors, which didn't surprise me. But what did surprise me was the friends I made. It was as if a barrier had come down, and the girls on the team treated me like a normal person. They weren't scared of the scar on my face or the ones on the rest of my body. It was as if gymnastics made me a real person, and because of it I actually enjoyed going to school. I actually felt like a normal kid, and now I understand why Joey and Tori said I loved gymnastics so much before the accident. I felt alive._

_I felt like I could do anything when I performed my routines, and it showed. Over the next year I became the best of the best. No other school's gymnast could touch me. I was the champion of the public school's gymnastics ring. But it seemed someone thought I should be taken to the next level…_

* * *

"Max, there's someone I'd like you to meet."


	2. All That You Are

**All the Right Moves**

Chapter 2:

_I'm so human and flawed,_

_I break down even though I'm still strong,_

_And time, will make fools of us all…_

All That You Are by the Goo Goo Dolls

* * *

"Max…

"Max...

"Max, there's someone here for you."

Seriously, Coach Shinbou? I wanted to let out a frustrated growl. Couldn't she see I was in the middle of a new routine? I'm sure that person could wait just a few minutes. It was hard enough to hold a handstand on the balance beam, let alone with someone trying to interrupt with chit-chat.

"Maxine, don't make me repeat myself."

Finally, I gave up. Twisting my weight to the side, I let my legs descend back to the beam and I stood upright. I felt slightly dizzy from inverting myself so quickly, and had to blink the white from my vision. When I did, I saw my middle school gymnastics coach looking at me with a frown. "Straighten your back more on that handstand. You're not hitting the full angle."

"Yes, Shinbou-sensei." I replied back, making sure to keep the annoyance out of my tone. I didn't need another whack on the head.

Kaito Shinbou has been my gymnastics coach for almost a year and a half now. And as much as I love the old woman, I can't help get irritated every time she commented on my handstand form. It's one of the most basic gymnastics moves and she always found something to nitpick about mine. And anytime I give her an attitude about it, she smacks me on the back of the head with her clipboard.

"Who's here to see me?" I asked as I sat down on the beam, letting one of my long legs dangle in the air and keeping the other folded against me with my foot flat on the beam.

"Someone I think you'll be interested to meet," my coach smirked before turning away and walking towards her office. That was Coach Shinbou for you— never actually answering the question.

Grimacing in annoyance, I hopped off the balance beam and quickly caught up to my coach. I ignored all the curious glances I got from my teammates and friends. How could I answer their questions when I didn't have any answers myself?

Coach Shinbou led me to her office and opened the door. Inside, a woman stood looking at the trophies and medals that adored Coach Shinbou's wall.

She looked older than me, but younger than Coach Shinbou, maybe in her early thirties. Her long, dark hair was pulled back into a pony-tail and whatever bangs she had were slicked back with a headband. She wore an outfit that looked like it cost a fortune, complete with black pumps that showed off her toned legs. All in all, she looked like a severe woman. Upon hearing us enter, she turned her brown eyes first to Coach Shinbou, then to me. Her eyes squinted with interest before saying, "She's taller than I'd like."

I furrowed my eyebrows. Excuse me?

"Believe me, it won't be a problem." Coach Shinbou smiled before moving to sit behind her desk. The woman sat in a chair across from her. I chose to stand.

Coach Shinbou smiled at me before saying, "Maxine, this is Chyio Kinmu. Do you know who she is?"

I shook my head but stuck out my hand, then quickly retracting it when realizing my error. I've been in Japan for four years and I still tried to shake people's hands. I just hoped she didn't see the scars on my palms. Instead, I bowed and said, "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Maxine Chase."

Kinmu smirked, as if she knew what I had tried to do, and bowed her head towards me. "I know who you are, Maxine. You've made quite a reputation for yourself in the gymnastics world. So much so, that word of your success had reached the ears of…higher classes."

I looked at her strangely. What was that suppose to mean?

Kinmu stood up so she was eye level with me. "Let me just cut to the chase," she smirked at her own word-play, "I work at Ouran Private Academy. I assume you know what that is?"

Duh, it was the school that shared the same district as Ouran public schools, only insanely more expensive and only the famous and wealthy populace attended it. Everyone in the Ouran public schools knew about the Private Academy, but it didn't mean they liked it. Being on the lower end of the totem pole wasn't something "commoners" enjoyed being reminded of.

Instead of telling Kinmu that, I settled for nodding my head.

"Then you should know that the high school's girl's gymnastics coach was let go this year."

I had to prevent myself from scoffing at that. By saying "let go" she meant that the last coach was fired for having sexual relations with one of the girls. While the school system did a good job at keeping the whole scandal hush-hush, rumors were always there to provide the missing information. And while I despise gossip, I always believed a rumor stems from some grain of truth.

I again nodded my head.

"I have been chosen to replace him, and I have been given permission to rebuild the entire gymnastics program for Ouran Private Academy. I have also been given enough money for two partial-scholarship students to join our team."

Now that was news to me, and I couldn't keep the surprise from my face. Scholarship students? To Ouran Private Academy? Was she insinuating what I think she was? Suddenly my mouth felt dry and I felt the need to fiddle with my long, frizzy pony-tail. "Am I to assume you want me to be one of those scholarship students?"

Kinmu shook her head and I instantly felt color rush to my cheeks from embarrassment for jumping to conclusions. If I wasn't, then why the hell did she call me in here, then? To shove it in my face?

"I want you to be the _only_ scholarship student."

Oh.

I gave her a confused look. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"The Academy only gave me so much money to give to scholarship students. I can either have two students on partial scholarships, or one student on a full scholarship. I am a firm believer in quality over quantity, Ms. Chase, and I understand that even with a partial scholarship, your family couldn't afford to send you to the Academy."

I scowled at the mention of my family's financial situation, but kept my mouth shut. That was a touchy subject for me, but she didn't know any better. Then again, she didn't have to be so blunt about how poor we were.

"The athletic scholarship would pay for everything from your books to your classes. It even covers your uniform. The only thing you'd have to provide, expense wise, would be your own lunch."

She paused to see if I had anything to say. "You're not giving me much to go off here, kid. If you're interested I need to know now, or am I just wasting my breath and need to go to the next talented kid?"

"Of course she's interested!" Coach Shinbou said before standing up and putting a hand on my shoulder. "It is a lot for a girl to take in, is all."

I finally found my voice and blurted out, "Why are you asking me now? I still have over a year and a half before I even go to high school."

Kinmu grimaced at that. "Ah, well, according to the Ouran Athletic System Handbook, rule number 67 states that a student who transfers into a new school for athletic purposes must be enrolled into that school for at least a year before becoming a part of that school's athletic team. The rule still stands even though you'd only transfer from Ouran's Public School to Ouran's Private Academy."

I looked up at Kinmu with wide eyes, "So I'd have to finish middle school at the Academy's institution instead of here?"

Kinmu nodded her head. "Believe me, I argued with the chairman for days about it. There's no way around the rule. The good news is he at least agreed to pay for your middle school education as well. We agreed that it would be best that you finish the rest of this semester here, and then move to the Academy and finish your second and third year of middle school there."

"But...I…" I honestly had no clue what to say. This was an opportunity of a lifetime, even an idiot could see that. If I graduated from Ouran Private Academy there would be no university in the world to turn me down. But that also meant leaving my friends here. The ones that took so long to make because of…

My thoughts trailed off and my fingertips subconsciously rose to the bottom of the scar that marred my face from my left cheek to the top of my right eyebrow. This scar was probably my biggest insecurity. Because of it, so many people avoided me like the plague. Even when I found solace in my team, I was still constantly reminded it was there. What if when I transferred schools, the same process would happen? What if no one would accept me this time? After all, people with wealth and power were more obsessed with perfection than anyone else.

Kinmu took one look at me, then my coach. I noticed a flicker of understanding in her eyes. Was it really that obvious how I felt? "I see this is a lot to take in. How about you sleep on it, talk to your family, and then I'll come back tomorrow for your answer."

"That sounds like a good idea," my coach agreed.

Kinmu bowed one last time before leaving the office. As she opened the door, six girls fell into the office in a tangle of limbs. "Uh…"

"I'm sorry about that, Chyio, please—"

"No, no, it's fine Kaito," Kinmu smiled before stepping over the girls. I'd have to say I was impressed with how gracefully she did it with those monstrous heels on. "Have a good evening, girls."

When Kinmu was out of sight the team jumped up and bombarded me.

"Was that really Ouran Academy's coach?"

"How could you not say yes to that?"

"What are you talking about, Kimi? Who would voluntarily go to that snob school?"

"I bet that place is full of cute boys."

"Get your mind out of the gutter, Ayume. Max could go to school for free!"

"Girls!"

As if a dog whistle had been blown, the team stood at attention. Coach Shinbou did have us trained quiet well, I realized. I just wanted to go home, and I think she realized that.

"Practice is over and will begin same time tomorrow. You're all dismissed." The scowl that accompanied those words made it very clear how she felt. No one was to speak to me about my offer.

As we all left the office and headed to the locker room, I felt every girl's gaze on me. I shrugged on some sweatpants and a t-shirt before grabbing my bag and quickly made for the door. As much as I loved my friends, there was no way I was going to talk about the offer right then. If only because I had no clue what to say.

"Max, wait!"

Ayume, while a pervert and a loudmouth, was the only one I could call my best friend. And that's the only reason I didn't ignore her and continue walking out the door. Instead, I looked back and saw the entire team watching me with smiles. Ayume walked forward and said, "Whatever you chose, Max, we'll support you all the way."

I smiled back, thankful to have a team like them.

* * *

"I'm home," I yelled as I took off my shoes by the door. As I did, I noticed there was an extra pair of shoes I didn't recognize by the door. It was a pair of pumps with red soles, so they were obviously Louis Vuitton. The only reason I knew that was because my sister swooned over those expensive shoes like a love struck puppy. And if shoes as pricy as those were here, that meant Fuyumi Ootori was somewhere in the apartment.

"Max!"

Speak of the devil.

"Hello Fu—" I wasn't able to finish my sentence as Fuyumi enveloped me into a bone crushing hug. For a girl who was built like a string-bean, she sure was strong.

I looked over her shoulder to see my sister smiling at us from a safe distance. She knew better than to get in between Fuyumi and her object of current affection. And I just happened to be her favorite object on multiple occasions.

I had no clue how it happened, but somehow my sister became best friends with the only daughter in one of the richest families in Japan. I came home one day, a few years back, and there Fuyumi was, sitting on one of our shabby couches and chatting the day away with Tori.

At first, I didn't understand why Fuyumi hung around us. What would a rich girl want to do with a bunch of second-class citizens? Then the more I got to know her, the more I realized she was just a sweet, and if not a bit lonely, girl. Apparently it was hard to find a real friend in her society, one that wasn't there only because they wanted to get closer to your parent's company. It was hard to find a friend that wasn't looking for something to gain. That's where Fuyumi found solace in Tori.

Fuyumi was also pleasant to be around. She never condescended or acted better than us, in fact she was one of the better human beings I've known, but I always couldn't help feeling inferior. She was so glamorous, so perfect looking, wearing the latest trends and designs from only the best fashion makers. Her sweet nature was the only way I was able to stand being around her. And at the sight of her today, I was reminded of my latest offer. How was I going to tell Tori and Joey? I guess I could wait until Joey got home from his new job.

Joey graduated from Ouran Public High School last year. Tori and I were so proud of him. And while Joey was a smart guy, he didn't make high enough grades to get a sufficient amount scholarship money to go to college. He decided to wait until we could afford it, and in the mean time he got a job as an apprentice at a martial arts studio and was able to hold his part time job at the tattoo parlor down the street. His dream was to graduate college with a business degree and open up the first MMA studio in the city. He said he might even double it as a tattoo parlor since he found he had a knack for body art. The only down side to his jobs were his inconsistent hours. Tori and I never knew when he'd be home, and it didn't help that he still participated in those underground fights.

"Max!"

"What?" I snapped out of my musing as I stared at the dark haired beauty before me.

"I said did you notice anything different about me?" Fuyumi asked, fluttering her hands about her face.

"Uh…" I looked her up and down but I couldn't spot a difference from the last time I saw her. "You got a hair cut?"

Fuyumi pouted and turned towards my sister. "I swear, Tori, if Max wasn't so angelic I would compare her to your brother."

Tori laughed while I made a face at Fuyumi behind her back. When she turned around I returned to an indifferent façade.

Ha. Angelic my ass.

Fuyumi put her left hand right before my face so I couldn't miss the giant rock that adored her ring finger. My eyes widened and I gasped. "You're getting married?" She nodded excitedly in response.

"Who's getting married?"

The three of us turned to see Joey entering the small apartment with a smile on his face. He was home early today. Joey took a look at the three females in the room before his eyes landed on Fuyumi's raised hand. "So Daichi Shido finally asked you, huh, Fuyumi? And here I thought he wouldn't have the balls to ask your dad."

Tori promptly threw the nearest thing, which happened to be a table coaster, at her brother. He had no time to react and it hit him square in the forehead. Tori wasn't very athletic, but she was deadly accurate when she was angry. "What did I say about using that language around Max? Fourteen years she has been alive and you have spent every one of them running your sailor's mouth. Even when we were younger, you had a terrible potty mouth."

"Oh," Joey rubbed his forehead before looking irritated at his sister. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, sis." He then looked down and winked at me before ruffling my already frizzy hair. I swatted his hand away before trying to fix it. I seriously needed to do something about my hair. I only kept my wavy mahogany colored locks long so I could pull them back for gymnastics. If it wasn't for that, I would have cut my hair short enough to where it wouldn't frizz out so bad. It drove me nuts.

Fuyumi luckily found our family antics funny, and didn't take offense to what Joey said. It also helped that she was use to Joey's brash and loose tongue. "Yes, he even asked father before hand. I was actually surprised as well. Father can be a little intimidating."

"That's an understatement." Tori muttered under her breath. It took me a minute to remember Tori had been over to Fuyumi's family home before, and had met her father and three brothers. She said that every one of them were nothing like Fuyumi, and as rigid as a rod.

According to Fuyumi, however, her second oldest brother, Akito, had the hots for my sister. While I found this funny, and Fuyumi found this thrilling — she would love to have her best friend as a sister-in-law — Joey found this irritating, and Tori was clueless to the whole situation. That was probably a good thing, considering Tori freaked when she actually understood she was getting male attention. And this happened all the time considering she had a body of a model and the face of a beauty queen.

"What was that, Tori?"

Tori flustered before saying, "Is that a new Hitachiin dress?"

Fuyumi glowed with delight, "why yes! I'm so glad you noticed!"

"Well how could I not? I love all her designs…"

Blah, blah, blah. I didn't care to hear about designer outfits all that much, and that's all those two ever seemed to talk about. I decided to tune out the rest of their conversation and moved into the kitchenette to prepare dinner for four, knowing Fuyumi was going to stay for a while.

"You want help, Maxi?"

I looked at Joey with a deadpanned look. "No way, Joey. You're cooking skills are so amazing that you burn water." I laughed as he crossed his arms in annoyance. It was then that I noticed a new tattoo amongst the others on his sleeve. I pointed at it and said, "Why did you get a peacock feather? That's a little feminine don't you think?"

Joey smiled at me. "A new guy came in yesterday. He wanted to practice and I've seen what he could do, so I let him put this on me. He's a Buddhist and said the peacock symbolizes the ability to thrive in the face of suffering. It sounded pretty cool so I agreed. He did a pretty good job, huh?"

I looked at it and smiled. I think Joey had a deeper reason for getting that tattoo but I chose to not voice that opinion. "Yeah, I like it."

While preparing dinner I kept thinking about Kinmu's offer and how I was going to bring it up to Joey and Tori. Did I even want to go in the first place? Would they want me to go?

During dinner Tori, being the ever observant one, noticed something was wrong.

"Max? Are you feeling alright? You're not talking much."

I looked up from my food to notice all three of them were looking at me curiously.

"Actually…something happened today."

"Did someone mess with you again?" Joey asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No!" I instantly shouted before blushing and putting my hands in my lap. "I mean, nothing like that. It's not bad news, but…I'm not sure what kinda news it is."

"Just tell us, Max."

"Ouran's Private Academy's new gymnastics coach approached me today and offered me a full athletic scholarship." I kept my eyes on my hands as I said those words. I didn't know why I was being so shy about telling them.

There was silence around the table and I snuck a peak to see three relatively surprised faces staring back at me. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Tori smiled and said, "That's great, Max!"

My head popped up and Joey gave me my second bone-crushing hug of the day. "I'm so proud of you, Maxi! To think you'll go to one of the best schools in the country."

"You guys are okay with this?" I asked.

"Of course we are, Max! You'll get such a great education if you go there! How could we not be?"

I had a few reasons in the back of my mind but it seemed they didn't care.

Joey suddenly let me go before looking me in the eyes with a somber face. "Do _you_ want to go, Maxi?"

"I…" Did I honestly want to go to a full out prep-school? Where I was guaranteed to get ostracized for not being a blue blood? Where my scars would make me an outcast again? Where I wasn't even sure if I could handle such an intense school system? Where I didn't even know if I could pass the entrance exam?

But at that moment, with Joey and Tori looking at me so proudly, I felt like I could handle anything.

Screw the blue bloods, and screw the system! If this was the best way to obtain my dream, then gosh-darn it I was going to do this.

With my mind made up, I nodded my head. Joey smiled and pulled me into another hug and then kissed me on the forehead. Tori came over and did the same thing with a smile on her face.

Fuyumi suddenly came into the picture again and swung me in a circle, laughing joyfully. "Oh this is wonderful! You'll be going to school with my little brother! He's a grade above you, but I'm sure you'll be the best of friends!"

Somehow, according to Tori's small description of Kyoya, I doubt that was going to happen, but I smiled at Fuyumi anyway. Her happiness was just infections.

* * *

A/N: I know Max seems kinda whiny here but just bare with me, she gets better. The song that inspired this chapter is All That You Are by the Goo Goo Dolls. To me, it's like Max's character theme. Reviews appreciated.

-blue


	3. Know Your Enemy

**All the Right Moves**

Chapter 3:

_Bringing on the fury  
_

_The choir infantry_

_Revolt against the honor to obey_

Know Your Enemy by Green Day

* * *

Joey and Tori wanted to drop me off on my first day at Ouran Private Academy, so I let them. Although I did know it would be the only time they would drive me. I'll have to walk every day after. Their jobs were further away from home than my school was, and we didn't have the time to go to each point every morning. Plus I didn't think the car could take the distance every day. Poor thing was on its last cylinder.

Joey drove our crappy, old-man, four-door car from our apartment to the massive campus a few miles away. And when I say massive, I mean _colossal_.

I had been here only once before, and that was to take the entrance exam — which I _barely_ passed — and file all the paperwork. I had been so nervous about getting everything handled that I hardly glanced at the school itself.

I think my jaw literally dropped when Joey pulled up next to the curb to let me out. I knew this place was supposed to house Ouran's private primary, middle, high school, and college but…holy guacamole! And to top it all off, not only was this place huge, it was beautiful. There was not one run down looking building, nor one shrub out of place on the entire campus.

Joey made an impressed whistle sound as we all admired the beautiful pale-pink marble buildings. It was like looking at a work of art, only I could walk around it. Suddenly, I felt like I was about to lose my breakfast and I ducked my head against the driver seat, reminding myself to breath correctly. There was no way I could do this. What the hell was I thinking when I agreed to come here?

"You're going to do great, Max. Don't worry so much," Tori smiled at me. It was almost irritating how easily she could read me.

"Yeah, just enjoy yourself and if anyone messes with you, give them a reason to never do it again." Joey twisted around to wink at me from the driver's seat.

Tori slapped his arm. "Don't encourage that, Joey."

Joey only laughed before motioning me to lean forward. When I did, he planted a kiss on my forehead and said, "You're a beautiful girl, Maxi, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

It warmed my heart that my brother believed that, even though I didn't. Still, I smiled at Joey and kissed both him and Tori on the forehead before getting out of the car. As I shut the door, it creaked loudly in protest, sounding like a bag full of dying cats. A few of the passing students looked towards my direction, curious as to what made such a horrendous sound. I don't think I had ever been so self-conscious about our crappy car until now.

A blush dusted my cheeks from embarrassment, but I chose to ignore them and started on my way into the school, determined to keep my head held high.

However, my confidence became lower and lower the further I went into the school. I noticed students pointing at me and whispering to one another openly. Was it really that obvious that I was the new kid on campus? Or was it because of the scar on my face?

Either way, I was so distracted by all the whispering that I ran smack into something solid, and I ran into it hard enough the force knocked me to the ground.

"Ow." I muttered before I quickly rushed to adjust my disheveled brown miniskirt that had slid up during my oh-so-graceful fall. When I was covered properly, I looked to see what I had run into so blindly.

It was a boy, and a not very happy looking one at that. As he straightened his shirt, I noticed he was tall, maybe about five foot, eleven. He wore the boy's uniform for Ouran's Middle School: a white long sleeve with the school's logo and black slacks, so he had to of been about the same age as me. I also noticed he was very good looking. Pale and smooth white skin, dark eyes, and dark hair that was a well kept yet relaxed style. Even with glasses his face was immaculate. Ayume would have been in heaven if she were here.

He looked down at me with his dark eyes, and for a second there, it looked like he wanted to decapitate me. Then, in a flash, there was a smile on his face and all malice was gone.

Had I just imagined that Red Queen look?

He offered me his hand and said, "Are you alright, Ms. Chase?"

Stunned that this handsome boy knew my name and even addressed me in an English formality instead of a Japanese one, all I could do was nod and take his hand and let him pull me back on my feet. "Um…yes. I'm sorry about that. I'm usually a lot more careful about paying attention to where I'm going. This all is just…so much."

I'm pretty sure I sounded like a babbling idiot, but he only smiled at me. His smile, however, bothered me. _Really_ bothered me. It seemed so fake — beautiful — but it was as if he had practiced it all his life, and didn't know how to smile any other way.

_DONG. DONG. DONG.  
_

I jumped when the clock tower in the middle of campus rung. I hadn't expected it to be so loud. As its tolls filled the air, I realized it was a signal to head to class. Students that had been meandering or socializing around me in the courtyard and breezeway had begun to leave for their respected classes. But this boy seemed like he didn't hear it, or was at least ignoring it.

"I'm sure it is. After all, it's not every day that someone of your low social standing can attend such a grand school as this."

Was it me, or did that sound condescending?

I looked at the boy a little harder this time, realizing he had a striking resemblance to someone I knew. But who?

"You know my name," I stated. "How is that?"

The boy's smile seem to form into a smug smirk as he pushed his glasses further up his nose, causing them to reflect the sun. "I take it upon myself to know all who inhabit Ouran Academy. An athletic scholarship student, while atypical, is no different, even if you have no other outstanding aspects."

Okay, that was definitely condescending…and an oxymoron.

I crossed my arms under my chest and gave this boy a stern look. Joey told me to not let anyone get to me, fine. I'll defend myself. "That doesn't explain how you recognized me."

He raised an eyebrow, as if he thought I were the dumbest person on Earth. "I'm surprised you haven't noticed the resemblance. I was under the impression my sister spent a considerable amount of time at your home."

It was as if a light bulb had blinked on in my head and I wanted to smack myself for not realizing it earlier. This was Fuyumi's younger brother: Kyoya Ootori.

"She made sure to describe you in detail, Ms. Chase," he continued without waiting for my response, "so it would be difficult to miss someone with features as_ striking_ as yours."

I flinched before I could stop myself. I hadn't meant to, but his backhanded remark about my scar was so unexpected that I wasn't able to steel myself for how much it would hurt. I knew when I enrolled at this school, that there would be comments about my scar, questions even, but I wasn't prepared for such an affront from Kyoya.

Was this really the sweet Fuyumi's brother that she held in such high regards? I thought Tori was laying it on thick when she told me how rigid the brothers were, but it seems she was dead on. Kyoya was nothing like his sister, and I shudder at the thought of what his brothers and father were like if Fuyumi held _him_ so highly.

In my stunned silence, Kyoya moved to step around me, but stopped to glance at me from the corner of his eye. I looked back with a heated gaze, but it was like glaring at the glacier that sunk the Titanic.

"I need you to understand something, Ms. Chase. While my sister seems to enjoy the company of commoners, I see no reason to. There is no gain in befriending someone of a lower class. However, I promised Fuyumi I would help you out, so here is my advice. Try not to step on anyone's toes and you might make it through the school year."

In other words: here's my help, now just stay away from me.

With one last fake smile, Kyoya walked past me.

I could hardly process how I felt about what he had just said. Anger was there, obviously, but I was also disgusted by Kyoya's attitude, and yet at the same time I felt…insignificant. I hadn't even had my first class yet and I was already being reminded that I'm not like them. That I wasn't aristocracy.

In angry foolishness, I turned around and shouted, "At least Fuyumi is a kind person! You don't deserve to call her your sister!"

Kyoya stopped walking for just one beat before continuing on his way, acting like he neither heard me nor cared. Luckily, no one else was there to see or hear my lapse in collectiveness. I let out an aggravated growl as I turned the other way, hoping to get as far away from Kyoya as possible, and praying that I'll never have to see him again.

* * *

I looked around the classroom, seeing ever person there watching me with criticizing eyes. Girls with the same brown, sailor-styled uniform as me, and boys with the same white and black uniform as Kyoya. Thank God he wasn't in here.

The teacher took it upon herself to introduce me to the class, and while her intentions were honest, it only made me stick out even more. As the teacher babbled about my reasons for being here I wonder how I looked to these children who were born and raised in luxury.

I decided that if I didn't want to look like a sore thumb then I needed to blend in as much as possible. I took the time this morning to try and manage my wavy-frizzy hair by pulling it to the side and herringbone braiding my mahogany locks about two inches down before tying it off and letting the rest fall into a ponytail over my right shoulder. I thought it looked polished, but compared to the hair styles these girls had, I might as well have come here with bed-head.

I asked my sister if I could borrow her make-up but she said I was too young to wear it and that my complexion was too pretty to cover up. I had no problem with my skin tone, and I even like the freckles that dusted across my nose. I just wanted to use her cover up to make my scar less obvious and I think she knew that. The only thing she'd let me use was her mascara. She thought my grey-blue eyes were beautiful and the mascara would make them pop, but I had no interest in that. But now I wish I had taken her up on the mascara offer after seeing the beautiful faces of every student here. Did beauty just come with being rich?

"Chase-san, you can sit in front of…I'm sorry Hitachiin-san but are you Hikaru or Kaoru?"

"I'm Hikaru."

Curious as to what she meant, I moved my eyes from my black flats to see she was speaking to a pair of identical twins. And when I say identical, I mean I had a better chance of finding Waldo than spotting a difference between these two.

"Right, my apologies." She then turned back to me and said, "You can sit in front of Hikaru."

I nodded my head and moved towards the empty desk, keeping my eyes ahead — hoping that I portrayed confidence.

The twins had beautiful amber eyes atop of high cheekbones and auburn colored hair cut in a bowl-style. And while that cut would look terrible on anyone else, these two were so handsome I'm sure they could pull off a mullet. And it was obvious that I wasn't the only one who thought the twins were good-looking.

As I walked to my seat, I noticed girls sending envious glances at me or longing looks at the brothers. The twins either didn't notice or they just didn't care as neither paid the girls any mind. In fact, they looked downright bored.

Then, at the same time, their eyes slid to look me over before glancing away as if I wasn't anything new. While I didn't think myself a vain person, I still found this unusual. Maybe I was just so accustomed to people staring at my scar, that I wasn't use to being initially disregarded. Deciding it was stupid to linger on, I turned my attention to the front.

Class seemed to be the same as it was in my last school, only the teachers were much better at explaining the points of their lectures. It's a no wonder why Ouran Academy was considered one of the best schools. I didn't believe in dumb students, just bad teachers, and it seemed Ouran's chairman thought the same. If every school had teachers like the ones here, the world would be full of geniuses. I suddenly had high hopes in making much better grades here than I did at the public school.

When the giant clock in the middle of the campus tolled twelve, everyone got up to go to lunch. I sat up and pushed my supplies in the bag that came with the uniform and pulled out my home-made lunch.

"Hey, commoner."

Call me crazy but I had a feeling that was directed at me. So I turned around and saw the Hitachiin twins looking at me with identical devious smirks.

"What's that you got there?" The one on the right asked, pointing at my bento. It was when they were standing next to each other that I noticed their bangs were parted in separate directions. One to the right and the other had his part to the left.

"My lunch?" I looked at them confused. I thought that was obvious.

"How unfortunate, Kaoru, to be so poor she can't even afford to eat in the cafeteria…" The one on the left said, trailing off.

"…and to have a face as busted as hers. What a tragedy a commoner's life must be." The one on the right finished his brother's sentence with a snicker.

I was so thrown off by their blatant audacity that I couldn't say anything back. They both walked pass me, laughing. "You'll learn your place here soon enough, commoner. Just know to stay away from us." The one on the right said.

"Look, she's already speechless. She must be dumb." The one on the left said.

"How boring." They both said in perfect unison before disappearing through the door.

I looked at them with confused shock. What was with these rich bastards? First Kyoya with his backhanded comment, and now these twins weren't even bothering to try and cover up there malice. Not even at the public school did I get this much barefaced grief for my scar. Was it because I wasn't as attractive as anyone here? Or did rich kids just get a kick out of picking on the "commoners"? I anticipated I would get some sort of confrontation from the students here, but not like this. These people were just plain hateful.

Angry from how terrible my first day was already going and how I let the twins get away with saying those things to me, I grabbed my bag and bento and stormed out of the classroom.

"Ah, Chase-san?"

"What?" I turned around, letting my anger seep through my voice without meaning to, and as a result I think I almost scared the girl half to death.

She was a very pretty girl (go figure) with long brown hair and soft eyes. She wore the same uniform as me, and I recognized she was in my class but I didn't know her name. She smiled at me, which was the first pleasant thing I've seen all day. She walked forward and bowed saying, "My name is Momoka Kurakono, and I'm the class 2-A's vice-representative."

By this point, I was leery from my first two meet-and-greets with the rich kids I've had the pleasure of talking to. She might have been welcoming me because it was her job as the vice-rep, but Momoka didn't come off as malicious like Kyoya or the twins did. Maybe third time's the charm.

I decided to take a chance. I smiled at Momoka and bowed in return. "It's nice to meet you, but you can just call me Max if you like. I've never been big on the formalities."

Momoka nodded her head and laughed. I couldn't help notice she came off extremely carefree. "Alright, Max. You can call me Momoka then. I was wondering if you'd like to have lunch with me."

"Ah, well you see, my scholarship doesn't cover the food the cafeteria serves so I have my own lunch." I said showing her my bento box.

"That's fine. You can still eat in there. Follow me," Momoka excitedly grabbed my wrist and led me toward the cafeteria. I honestly couldn't say I'd remember the way back. Momoka led me down so many twists and stairs that I lost my bearings after the first few turns. Once we reached the cafeteria, I realized why my scholarship didn't cover the food expense.

The cuisine that was on the plates of my fellow students made my mouth water. At Ouran Public Middle School we called the meatloaf on Mondays "mystery meat". Here at the Academy, there was no second guessing what was on your plate. There were delicacies I couldn't even pronounce the name of on silver platters with small garnishes adoring the sides. This stuff must have cost a small fortune.

Momoka seemed oblivious to my amazement as she quickly picked up her tray and lead me to an unoccupied table. I didn't bother questioning where her friends were, figuring she was sitting with me only because her vice-representative status required her to. At least she was nice enough to do that. However, she wasn't oblivious to all the curious glances that were being sent towards our table. We began to eat with a relatively awkward silence between us. I wanted to say something, but I had no clue as to what. Momoka seemed to feel the same and offered me an uneasy smile.

"So how was—" Momoka didn't get to finish her question as another girl came and plopped her tray down next to Momoka.

This one wore the same brown uniform as Momoka and I did, but I didn't recognize her. She must have been either in the grade above us, or she was in a different class from mine and Momoka's. She had dark brown hair that perfectly spiraled to her shoulders and dark green, almond shaped eyes that were looking at me with unashamed curiosity and excitement.

"You, my friend, have stirred quite a commotion around this school," were her first words towards me.

"I have?" was all I could think to say back.

She nodded her head while sticking a spoonful of soup in her mouth. Momoka gave her a strange glance, but the girl ignored her. "A commoner in the midst of Ouran's Academy is just the kind of juicy news needed to keep things interesting around here. That must have taken a lot of guts to agree to come here, I'll give you that. And in the A class, man, I don't envy you." She winked at me before eating another spoonful.

Momoka cleared her throat before saying, "Max, this is Sanosuki Jokai. She's in the grade above us, class 3-B."

"Call me Suki, everyone does." Instead of bowing, Suki stuck out her right hand to me. Surprised — and slightly pleased — that she chose to greet me in a less traditional style, I grabbed her hand and shook it. But instead of letting go, she quickly grabbed my hand with both of hers and turned it over, revealing my scarred and callused palm and fingers. Momoka gasped and Suki let out a low whistle, while I pulled my hand back from her and held it defensively against my chest.

Suki placed her chin in her left hand and raised her eyebrow with a smug smirk. "Don't get your panties in a twist, kid, I was only curious. Look." She then stuck out her right hand, palm up. While her long fingers and square palm weren't covered in scars, they were covered in year's worth of calluses. Calluses I recognized similar to my own.

"You're a gymnast." It wasn't a question. Girls as pretty and pampered as this one would have only one reason to have such rough hands. And gymnastics was the most plausible reason for her approaching me like this.

She nodded her head. "I will be joining the high school team next year. I'm one of the two third year middle school girls that get to practice with the high school team before I actually get into high school. The other one's name is Chi, but I don't think you'll meet her for a while. Count yourself lucky." I noticed Suki made a sour face when she mentioned Chi. I was just going to go off of intuition that she wasn't a pleasant person.

"You said, one of two." Momoka pointed out. "Surely there are more girls that try out for the team than that? It's a popular sport here, and Ouran is one of the best in the city."

Suki nodded her head. "Yes, but the gymnastics team has the small gym in the east building and the middle school gymnasts like to use it when their elite club season is over. Which that just happens to be when the high school team starts season practice. As such, it used to be a giant cluster of female athletes in one gym."

Seeing the confused expression on Momoka's and my face, Suki sighed and continued.

"In the previous years, there would be a time period where all the third year middle school gymnasts would try to get a few last minute practices in before try-outs for the high school team started. And since there is only one gymnasium in the school furnished for gymnastics, and there was no rule saying middle school gymnasts couldn't practice in it, the place would be packed with girls and the high school team couldn't get a decent practice in.

"Then, Kinmu-sensei stepped in this year. She declared an in-house meet at the beginning of the year for the third year students, instead of try-out before the season started. The top two girls of the competition would be guaranteed spots on the team the following year, and would also get to train with the team that same year. With that determined there would be no need for tones of girls to practice in the gym.

"You see, the high school team consists of six girls, two from each year. However, Kinmu-sensei decided to train eight girls at a time — this includes the incoming first years. And as Momoka said, it's a popular sport around here and the previous years were chaotic on try-out days. So in short, the clusters of girls are out of the gym and the team is already set for the next year. Killing two birds with one stone kind of thing, you know?

"Lots of girls compete, but only two stay. No second chances. It sounds pretty rough but under the circumstances, it's necessary."

I couldn't help to notice that Suki sounded pretty smug about this. But, who could blame her when she was obviously one of the chosen few? She must be a phenomenal gymnast if there are as many girls who try-out as Momoka and Suki say there are.

"That sounds like a pretty tough competition." Momoka said.

Suki nodded her head before glancing at me. "This brings me to my point as to why you've caused such a stir up at this school. More specifically, the sport's sect. You're the first commoner to be brought in on scholarship in Ouran history. Kinmu-sensei came as a highly revered coach, so it was a surprised she took a gamble on you."

"A gamble?" I asked.

Suki raised her eyebrow at me. "You're going to have to compete in the in-house competition next year, Max. Meaning, there's a chance that you won't make the team if you mess up and don't claim one of the two spots. Did you think that just because you're on scholarship you automatically made the team?"

In all honesty? That was exactly what I thought.

Kinmu failed to mention anything about an in-house competition. She didn't say anything about competing against girls who have been on club teams. Girls who probably got private lessons with the best coaches because of daddy and mommy's money.

Suddenly I wasn't so hungry, and I think I felt even worse than when I first arrived here this morning. My face must have said it all because Momoka instantly tried to cheer me up.

"Don't worry about it, Max! I mean, if Kinmu-sensei didn't have so much faith that you'll make the team, she wouldn't have given you the scholarship in the first place. Right, Suki-senpai?"

Suki gave me an encouraging smile. "Right. Look, kid. I didn't come over here to spoil your day. Hell, I thought you knew about all this. I just wanted to see what all the fuss was over the commoner scholarship student. Kinmu-sensei knows what she's doing. Her methods are a little unorthodox, but she seems to have a mean to her end. I'm sure she has a reason for not telling you about the competition. But now that you know, I'll tell you this…" Suki waited until I looked her in the eyes before continuing, "Because of Kinmu's faith in you, you're going to have a large target on your back. You'd be surprised by the amount of girls that will do anything for that spot. Stay on your toes and keep your head up."

Suki then stood up with her now empty tray in hand. I was so busy mulling over this surprising news that I didn't even notice her eating. She smiled and said, "I like you, Max, so I'll be rooting for you. If Kinmu-sensei has faith in you, then I do too."

As she left, Momoka turned to me, trying to smile encouragingly. "Well I guess that's a lot to take in, huh?"

I nodded my head, not really feeling like talking. Suddenly the clock tower chimed, signaling the end of lunch.

"We should probably head back to class now," Momoka said.

"Yeah," I stood up, and as I did the Hitachiin twins passed our table. I pretended not to see them, not wanting to deal with their hateful attitudes at the moment. But even without looking at them a feeling of dread dwelled in me that I didn't entirely understand.

"Hey Hikaru, Kaoru!" A boy from the table beside mine smiled at the twins and waved at them like they were the best of friends. However, the twins ignored him and continued walking towards the exit. The boy was determined though, and shouted after them, "Hey, wait guys! I was wondering if you'd like to come—"

"Leave us alone." The twins both chimed without even looking at the boy.

"But I just wanted to invite you to stay at my parent's cabin in the mountains this weekend. A few friends and I were—" He stopped mid-sentence, looking as if he had just been slapped.

I looked back at the twins to see both had turned inward, chest-to-chest, with hands in their pockets and identical hateful gazes upon their faces.

The warning was unambiguous this time. If the boy didn't leave them alone he would suffer the consequences.

And the boy seemed to have gotten the message loud and clear. He turned away and walked back to his table of friends who instantly took to whispering to one another about the Hitachiin's rude behavior. The twins took no mind to this and walked away as if nothing had happened.

"What is with those two?" I asked as Momoka and I started to head for the classroom.

Momoka gave a strained smile. "It's kinda hard to explain. You'll come to find that is just how the Hitachiin brothers are, Max. I've been in school with them since we first started, and they've always kept to themselves. They've never really tried to reach out and make friends. Hikaru and Kaoru just seem to prefer each other's company over anyone else's. They've been that way for so long that I don't think they know how to act around others and come off as hateful and rude. So if they ever say anything to you, don't take it to heart."

Instantly the scene from this morning popped into my head. What Momoka said would explain a lot, and in a way, I was relieved to see I wasn't the only one who the Hitachiin twins acted foul towards. And it did shed some light on why they were so vicious towards me.

They didn't insult me because they were malicious at heart. They just wanted to make it clear they wanted to be left alone. And what better way to be left alone than to make everyone hate you?

"But why are they that way? Who wants to be alone like that?" I asked, thinking how much I longed for friends when I moved to Japan. I found it almost insulting that these two went out of their way to push everyone out. Here were kids offering their friendships basically on a silver platter to the twins and they only shove it back in their face.

Momoka frowned, "No one really knows. I tried to befriend them once when we were little but I think I only made it worse."

"What do you mean?" I asked her, curiously.

"Well, one day when we were in kindergarten the teacher allowed us to go outside for recess. Our class was so excited because it had snowed the night before, and we all ran out to the courtyard to play. I wanted to build a snowman but all my friends were sick and hadn't come to school. That was when I saw Hikaru and Kaoru sitting on the bench just watching everyone.

"They looked bored and lonely so I approached them and asked if they wanted to build a snowman with me. At first they asked me who I was talking to, and when I said "both of you" they only responded that there was no one named "both of you" there. I thought they were joking so I played along and said I was talking to Hikaru and Kaoru. They then asked me if I could tell which one was Hikaru, and which one was Kaoru."

"What did you say?" I asked, curious to see if she was able to tell the twins apart.

Momoka looked down shamefully and said, "I honestly had no clue which one was which. They looked so much alike then as they do now. So I took a stab in the dark and pointed at one of them and said his name was Hikaru."

"Did you get it right?"

Momoka shook her head. "I knew I didn't from the look on their faces. I apologized over and over but I don't think they even heard me. They were so upset they looked like they were about to cry. I still feel terrible about it to this day."

I looked away from Momoka so she wouldn't see me grimace. It wasn't directed at her, I just wasn't good at keeping a poker face. I was thinking about the twins, and how much it must suck to never be told apart. I figured it must get old being mistaken for someone you're not.

But surely somebody was able to tell which one was Hikaru and which one was Kaoru by now…right?

Before she could get too distraught I gave Momoka a reassuring smile. "Don't beat yourself up about it, Momoka. An honest mistake doesn't merit the way the twins are. It wasn't like you were trying to hurt their feelings on purpose. If that was really the case, it's rather selfish of them to act the way they do, if you ask me."

As we reached the classroom, Momoka and I separated to take our seats. Most of the other students had returned already and were idly chitchatting with one another before class started again. I noticed the twins were both sitting in the desk that was behind mine, playing on one of the laptops the school issued to all its students. I also noticed that everyone was keeping their distance from the twins but their eyes kept moving to them. As I walked down the aisle to my seat, I easily overheard many of their conversations.

"Man, those Hitachiin brothers are pretty intimidating."

"Yeah, it's like they're always looking down on everyone, but my dad wants me to at least try and be friends with them."

My eyes discretely shifted from my fellow students back to the twins. If I hadn't just been watching them I wouldn't have noticed that the bored expressions they bother wore turned to those of irritation. Like a mirror of each other, both their eyebrows were drawn in and their mouths were a firm like. They obviously could hear their classmate's conversations as well.

"Yeah, me too."

"Same here."

A line forming along their jawbone, showing that they were clenching their teeth. The one not scrolling on the track pad had his fist clenched tight.

"But why even bother? I don't think those two like anyone but themselves."

I had reached my desk by then, but I didn't sit down._ Does anyone know how to whisper in this class? If they're going to gossip then they need to do it out of earshot. No wonder the twins don't want friends here_. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't even realize I was staring blatantly at the two. They noticed however, and at the same time their eyes looked up at me. Did they have to do everything in sync?

"What are you looking at, Scar-face?"

Any pity I felt for the twins at that moment vanished. I glowered at them before turning away and sitting in my seat. "Nothing."

* * *

_A gate stood before her._

_It was old and decrepit. The bars were colored copper from rust and vine weeds had crawled their way to the arch at the top. A large chain wrapped around the junction where the two doors met and an old padlock sat firmly in the middle. Keeping the doors tightly shut_

_Her head cocked slightly to the side as the gate was peculiar to her. Why was it there?_

_She looked in between the bars to see a beautiful field laid behind it. It had flowers, and trees, and wild green grass atop rolling hills that looked endless. It was so lovely. A paradise untouched by man._

_She found herself wanting a way in. But how?  
_

* * *

A/N: I'm not too sure I'm all that happy with this chapter, it came out not exactly how I wanted it to, but it did at the same time. If that makes sense. The confrontation with Kyoya gave me the most trouble and I'm still not all that crazy about it but I think it's just because I don't like conflict.

Also, yes, I made Momoka the eyeless girl that guesses the twins wrong in their little flashback episode!

Also to any that think I made the twins and Kyoya too mean, take into consideration this is before Tamaki and the Host Club. They had no idea how to be nice and actually mean it.

*For her hair style I thought along the lines of Alexis Knapp (Stacie) from Pitch Perfect, around the end of the film. That's for all you who didn't exactly understand my description. I myself need an actual image to understand some things. Just how my brain works, ha. And Gods, I love that movie! If you haven't seen it then do yourself justice and go see it!

The song that inspired this chapter is Know Your Enemy by Green Day. It's kinda Max's feel on the students of Ouran.

-blue


	4. Two Against One

**All the Right Moves**

Chapter 4:

_And if it looks to me like you and your reflection_

_Plan to add your own fire to this dimension._

_Then tell it that this ain't no free for all to see_

_There's only three…it's just you and me against me_

Two Against One by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi

* * *

"Oh my — you're still here, Chase-san?"

"Huh?" My head popped up, as I had dozed off with my head in my arms. I swiveled in my chair to face a woman clad in blue scrubs.

I had heard the door open, but hadn't bothered to acknowledge it until the nurse addressed me. The medical staff ran in and out of that door so much that I hardly noticed them anymore.

"Oh, yeah…" I recognized the nurse as one of the regular attendants and smiled at her. I some-whatly felt bad because of the numerous times I'd seen her, I could never remember her name — even though she obviously remembered mine.

She smiled back at me. "It's so nice to see such a dedicated daughter. I'm sure your mother enjoys each of your visits."

I felt my expression turn somber as I shifted my attention to the comatose woman in the hospital bed. The thin, white sheets coved most of her body, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to see she was tall and slender. Her skin was pale and unblemished which contrasted with her wavy mahogany locks that cascaded around her face and shoulders like a halo.

My mother looked a lot like Tori, especially in the face. They both shared the high cheekbones and button noses. Even Joey had her ears, and from the picture's I'd seen, my mother had dark green eyes like my siblings did. Tori told me I looked like mom also, but I think it was just because I obviously inherited mom's dark mahogany locks.

"I would like to think so," I answered the nurse.

In all honestly, I had no clue why I visited my mother so often. I had no memory of what she was like, and only pictures and my sibling's words to paint my own idea. It was almost ironic — the amnesiac daughter visiting her comatose mother. In a way, she was no more a stranger to me than nurse-what's-her-name. I hated hospitals, and yet every Sunday evening I would take the subway to visit St. Dominic Nakano's Hospital just to spend time with her.

The nurse moved to fiddle with the I.V. drip. She removed the old, empty bag and replaced it with a new one. She then turned to me and said, "It's getting late, Chase-san. Visiting hours are almost up, and I'm sorry to say that you'll have to leave soon."

I nodded absently. I was too delved in my own thoughts to really acknowledge the woman. I heard the door close with a quite click soon after.

"I don't think I know what I've gotten myself into, Mom," I finally said, as I looked at my mother's serene face. "It will be a month tomorrow since I started at Ouran Academy and it's…something else."

It was probably weird that I talked to my mother like this, but the doctors encouraged it. They said medical research journals state most comatose patients are aware of their surroundings, and it might help break their unconscious state. However, my motivations were more selfish than just helping my mother. It turned out to be therapeutic for me.

When I talked to her, it felt like I never had lost my mother. I would tell her about my week, how Tori and Joey were, and if anything happened that was worth talking about.

I imagined what her responses would be like: whether it be a smile at an accomplishment, or a scowl for a transgression. Tori said, before the accident, that when she needed help she would always go to our mother. So I imagined she would smile at me when I needed support after a bad day, or her voice would be filled with warmth as she gave me advice when I was confused.

As pathetic as it was, it brought comfort to me.

"Don't get me wrong, the schooling is great. You'd be proud of my grades. I'd never had such high marks until I came to Ouran. I'm able to stay in the A class of my year because of them. Granted I'm closer to the bottom of the class than the top," I laughed and rested my head on my arms which were crossed next to my mother's hand.

"I've actually made a few friends too, believe it or not," I smiled as I absently looked out the window. The sun had just started to set, so the sky and clouds were painted different shades of pink and orange.

Obviously, my mother didn't reply, but I continued on as if she had. "I know, it's funny that I'm making them at Ouran of all places.

"Momoka and I are still friends. I guess she liked me more than I originally thought. She's a sweetheart, you'd like her. We sit together in the Dining Hall and our elective classes we have together. Granted, her friends are still wary of me, but they trust Momoka's judgment enough to be friendly."

I shifted in my chair some before continuing. "Something unexpected happened though, Mom. I seemed to have gained a new friend without meaning too. Do you remember that girl I told you about — Sasshi? She's my partner in home economics and doesn't like me. Well, it seems she's had a change of heart."

Sasshi Tansei was definitely an interesting case.

We're in the same year, but the only time I saw her was in my sixth period elective class because she was in class B.

I was surprised the school had even offered home economics in the first place. The description of the class was described as: 'to where students learned how to deal with the economics and management of the home and community.'

In other words it was just a home keeping class, which was useless to a bunch of rich kids with maids and butlers to do the house work. It was nothing more than a joke to them, I'm sure.

Then again, I wasn't completely innocent when it came to reasons for taking the class. I personally took it because I thought it would be a blow off class since I already did all the house work.

Either way, as soon as the class had begun the teacher had us pair up with permanent partners for the whole semester. Being the outsider that I am, I just waited to see who was left after everyone picked who they wanted. In the end, I was paired with Sasshi Tansei. A girl with pin-straight black hair cut in an asymmetrical bob, and super long legs. Her facial expression made it clear that she wasn't too happy to be stuck with me, and I had a feeling that we weren't going to get along.

I was right. For the first three weeks we had communication issues and our work reflected it. The class started with the home cooking unit, and it was obvious Sasshi hadn't cooked a day in her life. As her partner, I tried to help Sasshi with her share of the work, but she was stubborn and just gave me a dirty look every time I did.

A process soon followed. After much frustration, she would give up and throw her hand in the air. Then she glared at me, as if it was my fault, and stomp off to the other end of the table to pout and doodle in her notebook. I then would scramble to salvage what I could and remake our dish with what little time was left so I could have a decent grade. Needless to say, we were both ready to rip our hair out by the end of class.

However, in this past week, something about Sasshi changed.

"It was weird; it was like dealing with a whole new person. Like this Tuesday, when I told her that she had poured too much salt into the cake batter, she actually listened to me," I said, my eyebrows furrowed as I was still trying to figure out her actions.

"After that, she actually _asked _me for help. When she realized I was right she wouldn't stop asking questions. I think I've told her the difference between baking powder and baking soda at least a dozen times by now," I laughed.

"Then, to make things even more bizarre, she just started to talk to me — as in socially. She's quite the chatter box when you get past the snobby girl front. I found out that her dad is pretty integrated in the art industry, and she's already selling her own paintings. She's shown me a couple of pictures, and they're pretty good. I think you'd like them, Mom."

I sat up in my chair. My back was killing me from the awkward position I had sat in for so long. I twisted by back and felt my spine pop a few times. Feeling better, I leaned back with my elbows on the chair back and my legs crossed in front of me. I looked at the clock to see I still had about fifteen minutes before I had to leave.

At that moment, a thought popped in my head. One that made everything that happened to me in this past week make much more sense. My lips curled into a smile and I said, "You know, Mom, I think I just realized why Sasshi had a change of heart."

I shook my head, not able to believe I hadn't realized it sooner. "I've told you about the twins already, haven't I? Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin? I know I've called them self-centered brats, but you should probably know almost all the girls in the school seem to adore them. However, considering what I witnessed two Fridays ago, I don't think Sasshi's apart of their fan-base anymore."

* * *

"_Great, I think it's sprained," I said as I rotated my wrist. A pain shot through it as I did so, confirming my suspicion. I sighed with despair as I lay back on the floor mat of the gymnasium. "This is going to set me back at least a week."_

_I honestly should have seen that coming. A Chusovitina — a full-twisting double layout — is one of the harder skills to perform in a floor exercise, and stupid to practice without a spotter the first few runs. Which was exactly what I did. Kinmu would have my hide if she knew I had tried to execute a Chusovitina on my own._

That's what she gets for not telling me about the in-house competition, _I thought angrily._

_I was still upset with her for keeping that important tidbit of information from me. Then when I confronted her about it, she simply shrugged and said I would be ready by the time the competition came around._

_When I asked her how when I couldn't even practice with a team anymore, she threw a key at me and told me to practice in the gymnasium after school. Legally, she wasn't able to do one-on-one coaching seasons with me, so I'd have to practice on my own with "instruction memos" from her. Also, that I shouldn't worry about being disturbed because no one goes in the gym at this time of year._

_She was right. I've practiced in this gymnasium for the past three weeks and not a soul came in besides Kinmu — and that was only to tell me what to work on for the week or to test my fitness level._

_Anyways, it didn't take me long to become bored with the repetitious drills and fitness exercises she had me do. So every once in a while I would improvise for a little excitement. Hence my situation now._

_I laid there for some time, just to let my sore and tired body rest for a minute before I finally got up. There was no point for me to continue on an injured wrist, besides I was done with the day's exercises anyway. I walked over to my bag and pulled out a pair of grey sweatpants to put on over my black skins. I hated wearing the short-spandex shorts and the tight t-shirt but they were the best things to practice in, and unless I wanted my shirt flying up or catching on something while I'm flipping through the air, I had no other choice._

_I grabbed my water bottle and bag with my good arm before I walked out the doors. I made sure to lock them behind me. Once again, Kinmu would have my hide if I didn't make sure the door was locked tight. No one was supposed to know I practiced on my own here besides Kinmu and the school's Chairman._

_I pocketed the key and started my way towards the entrance gate of Ouran Academy and then home._

_I once again looked down at my wrist and grimaced. "The best thing to do is put ice on this when I get home. It's already swelling pretty badly. At least it wasn't my left hand; I have to write a paper tonight."_

"_I'm sorry, were you waiting long?"_

_I recognized that voice instantly, and looked around for an auburn-haired twin that came with it. When I realized I was the only one in the corridor I figured they — I would say he but the twins were never apart — had to be up ahead of me in the courtyard._

_Walking as quietly as I could, I reached the end of the corridor and peaked around the corner to see one of the twins talking to a girl from our year in the breeze way. It was the one that parted his hair to his left. Which one was that again? Kaoru? No…Hikaru? I honestly haven't given them much thought ever since my first day here so I didn't bother trying to tell which was which. I avoided the Hitachiin twins like the plague, not willing to deal with their rude remarks, and beside the fact I sat in front of Hikaru and Kaoru in my core classes, I've been doing a pretty good job at it._

"_I read your letter," he said, as he held up an envelope with a heart-shaped seal. It seemed to be a love letter, and upon seeing it, I rolled my eyes._

_If there was one thing I had learned about this school it is that the girls here are _extremely_ forward with their feelings. It was so odd to me. At my old school a girl could hardly admit her feelings to a boy, let alone confess. Here it seemed to be a regular activity. I don't think I'll ever understand these rich-private school kids._

"_Hikaru…"_

_The voice that came from the girl surprised me. I knew her! And now that I identified the voice I couldn't believe I didn't recognize those long legs that peeked out from under her brown mini-skirt. It was Sasshi!_

_I think I was more surprised that Sasshi had a thing for one of the Hitachiin twins than I was that she was confessing it. I mean, she was as vapid as all the other girls at this school, but Sasshi was such a clam. She didn't bother to talk to anyone in our home economics class, even though most of them were in B class with her. I didn't even realize she knew the twins._

"_I'm really sorry but, I'm Kaoru. You must have gotten my desk confused with Hikaru's and put your letter in the wrong one."_

_Sasshi looked down in shame. A blush covered her cheeks and she bit her lip while wringing her hands._

_A dark look passed through the twin's eyes that I couldn't decipher, and it was then that I absently wondered where the other twin was. The two were hardly ever apart. _

_He then said, "Do you think…you could like me instead?"_

_Sasshi's hands stopped moving and her head popped up as if she couldn't believe what she had heard. A gleam of hope filled her eyes._

_He leaned forward a little and said with a smooth smile, "I should confess, to be honest, I always thought you were really cute. And besides, Hikaru has a crush on someone else. So what do you say?"_

_A giant smile of pure happiness spread across Sasshi's lips before she said, "If you're okay with it, then I am too, Kaoru."_

_A look of disappointment and hurt crossed his face before it dissipated into a devious smirk._

Wait a second, that's not Kaoru! _I thought when I finally remembered that it was Hikaru that parted his hair to his left. My eyes widened, having realized Sasshi had fallen into a trap._

"_I see. Well then — Hey, Kaoru," Hikaru shouted as he turned around to face the courtyard. "She said she would be fine with you instead!"_

_I cocked my head to see the other twins, the real Kaoru, step out from behind a tall hedge with an identical smirk gracing his lips._

_Seeing the other twin made Sasshi gasp, "Hold on! Then you _are_ Hikaru?"_

_A look of utter betrayal crossed Sasshi's face as tears welded up in her eyes. Hikaru seemed dauntless to them as he chuckled, "This is just getting old. You girls just keep falling for it."_

_Sasshi flinched at Hikaru's sharp words and she brought her hands up to her chest, as if clutching her heart to keep it from falling out and breaking into a million pieces on the floor. "You're so…cruel," Sasshi cried out, "Why would you do that?"_

_Hikaru's eyes flashed from humorous to complete abhorrence as he turned back to the girl. "We're cruel? No, you have it all wrong. You're the cruel one."_

_Sasshi seemed startled by Hikaru's abrupt change in attitude and took a small step backwards. By this time, Kaoru had walked from the courtyard to stand next to his brother. Hikaru continued, "You're okay with either of us. That's what you said. Who the hell do you think you are?"_

"_By saying you'll take either of us, you're really saying you don't care which of us you have. How shallow can you get?" Kaoru asked with a condescending smirk. "By the way, you have a pretty face but such long legs that it's gangly and awkward. If you want to go out with us, you should try and disguise those spider legs."_

_Kaoru's words were the last straw as tears now flowed freely down Sasshi's face, but it seems the twins weren't done tormenting the poor girl yet._

_They both held out her love letter, which was a reminder as to what started her grief, and they said in unison, "And the next time you write a love letter, make it good!"_

_They then ripped it apart into pieces, just like Sasshi's heart._

* * *

"I know, what a rotten thing to do, right," I looked at my mother and figured she would agree on this. "I disliked Sasshi, and now that I look back I can say I don't agree with how she confessed her feelings to the twins as if she didn't care which one she got, but I still couldn't help feeling bad for her.

"You see, not too long ago something similar happened with Joey. Our neighbor has a daughter Joey's age, and she has a massive crush on him. She finally got the courage up to ask him out one day. To my surprise, he turned her down, albeit gently. She's really pretty and sweet, so I asked why he didn't take her out. Joey said that if he did, he would be breakings someone else's heart that he cared deeply for. I asked him who it was, but he refused to tell me." I made a face at that. Joey and I were close, and so it irritated me that when he didn't tell me things. "When he didn't tell me, I asked him why he couldn't break her heart.

"Joey then told me that breaking a woman's heart is deeper than people realize. It destroys her outlook on love, her future relationships, and peace within herself. He couldn't bring himself to do that.

"At the time, I had no idea how that was even possible. A guy just turns you down — big whoop. But then, I saw how upset Sasshi was when Hikaru and Kaoru tore up her love letter, and I think what Joey said made a little more sense to me. I think that's why I couldn't stop myself from rushing to her defense."

* * *

"_What the _hell_ is the matter with you two?!"_

_The twins, who had already started to walk away, were as startled as Sasshi was to see me there. I walked to stand in front of Sasshi with my fists clenched and a scowl on my face._

"_What kind of twisted sickos are you? You went through all that just to get a laugh out of her misery? She took the courage to confess her feelings and you two have the gall to trample her heart. That's just wrong!"_

_I had no clue what I was doing. I didn't even like Sasshi, yet I was defending her. I was just so angry that the twins could laugh at her tears that I felt the need to do anything to knock those smug smirks off their faces._

"_Max…" Sasshi said weakly, as if she wasn't sure if I was really there or not._

_I turned to her and my anger softened at the sight of her miserable appearance. I reached down and gently pulled her off the floor where she had fallen to her knees with tears streaming down her cheeks._

"_Go home, Sasshi. I'll see you tomorrow in class, okay?" I smiled at her._

_She wiped her eyes and nodded her head before all but running out of the corridor and out of sight._

_I turned back to the twins to see equal looks of irritation in their eyes. And it was directed straight at me._

_I returned the look and said, "Everyone says you two are self-centered pranksters, but I didn't think you were such brats that you would do something like this."_

"_You don't know what you're talking about, Scarface," the one on the right — Hikaru — said. "If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your nose in your own business."_

"_Besides," Kaoru jumped in, "It's not like we care about the opinion of some homely little Scar—"_

"_SHUT UP!" I yelled at Hikaru and Kaoru. I was so tired of them calling me that. They hadn't talked to me much for the past few weeks, but when they did they loved to address me as "Scarface." Usually I ignored them — having been called worse before — but this was it. I was done with turning the other cheek._

_The twins eyes widened and their jaw slacked in surprise. They looked as if they had been visible slapped. It then struck me that there was a high chance that no one had ever yelled at them like that before. These pampered princes probably had never been chastised once in their entire life._

_I continued before they could snap out of their stupor. "You say that Sasshi is cruel, but you're only a couple of pots calling the kettle black. You both knew that her attraction to you was only skin deep, didn't you?"_

_When neither denied it, I continued. "And since y'all are identical there was no way she would be able to tell which one was Hikaru and which one was Kaoru._

_"But instead of turning her down gently and moving on with life, you decide to make a game out of it and humiliate her. It's bad enough when a girl's feelings aren't accepted but when it's returned with ridicule—"_

_I stopped myself mid-sentence, having realized I was reading too deep into the situation. I took a deep breath to calm myself before saying, "Look, I'm not saying her intentions weren't shallow. The way she made you two out as the same people was wrong, but if anyone is cruel here, it's you two for taking things as far as you did."_

_"Are you done, yet?" Kaoru asked, yawning._

_"We have better things to do than get a pointless lecture from a commoner," Hikaru continued. _

_Not expecting that response from them, my eyebrows quirked in a confused manor. Then I scoffed, irritated that neither seemed the least bit remorseful for making Sasshi cry. "You know I don't get you two. If you were so insulted by the fact Sasshi couldn't tell you apart, why don't you make an effort to be told apart?_

_"From what I've seen you guys don't have many friends, if any. You guys don't even seem to care. Yet you get upset when everyone gets you two mixed up. It seems kind of contra—"_

_"Just shut up already!" Kaoru exclaimed, startling me to a stop._

_Hikaru stepped towards me, his hands clenched with anger and a scowl on his face. "Do you want to know why? Because as far as we're concerned, Kaoru and I could care less about being friends with a bunch of idiots. No one can tell us apart. Not even an ordinary, scarred, little commoner like you!"_

_I would be lying if I said Hikaru's words didn't hurt. But instead of feeling sadness, I felt anger boil in my belly. I wanted nothing more than to smack Hikaru and Kaoru, but I refrained._

_For a moment, none of us said anything. We just stood there glaring at each other like a Mexican Standoff, only it was two against one._

_Finally, I took a step back. Without leveling my gaze, I said in a calm voice, "You're the idiots if you truly believe that. You confuse people's ability to tell you apart for intelligence. What you fail to see is it's not their intelligence, but their ability to care. Anyone can tell you two apart, if they took the time to care enough. Even I could."_

_The twins' gaze softened at my words, but I don't think it was intentional. I think it was more because they had never actually considered the theory I was telling them before now._

_I then turned away and picked up my bag with my left hand. I had dropped it when I moved to help Sasshi. When it was situated on my shoulder I looked back at the twins and said, "But why should I care? You two deserve to be tortured by the fact no one would be willing to care enough to tell which one is Hikaru, and which one is Kaoru. Have fun rotting away in loneliness together."_

_I then walked away._

* * *

"I know what I said was horrible, but I couldn't help it. They had just made me so angry with the whole Sasshi thing that I wanted them to feel what it was like to be hurt," I said as I figured my mother would scold me right now if she could.

I sighed before I continued. "Anyways, after that, Sasshi has been much nicer to me. She's even invited me over to her house this next weekend. It's funny, what little things can do to change people's opinions about you," I chuckled to myself before I became somber as the twins came back to mind.

"Then again, it seems that coin has two sides to it. The twins seemed to have formed a very strong opinion about me as well — but in a completely different way. I don't think they liked what I had to say about them."

I scoffed, considering my words were a terrible understatement. In the past week, Hikaru and Kaoru had been nothing but a complete nightmare.

As terrible as it sounded, if I had know the twins were going to hold a grudge over what had happened, I would have traded Sasshi's new attitude towards me in a heartbeat. I could have handled her prissy attitude for the rest of the semester, but what I can't handle is another week like the one I just had with the Hitachiin twins.

When I had walked into class the following Monday, I had almost completely forgotten about what had happened with the twins and Sasshi. Apparently, the twins did not, and they made sure I got a painful reminder — literally.

I remember I had arrived early to school that morning. Tori's morning class was canceled, and Joey had the day off so he offered to drive me. It was almost a full half hour before class began so I thought I would be the first one to arrive, but I was surprised to see that the twins were already there.

I walked to my seat and snuck a brief glance at the twins. They sat together in Hikaru's desk and both were reading a book, neither bothered to acknowledge my presence as I reached my desk. I took out my notebook and pencil before I sat down, but only to instantly jump back up with a yelp.

"What the hell?" I muttered as my hands flew to my offended rear end and I looked down to see what had caused it to be offended.

Thumb tacks. There were thumb tacks, faced point-up, in my seat.

"How did those get—," I didn't even finish my question as a pair of snickers made me turn around to face the twins.

Both Hikaru and Kaoru were watching me with identical smirks that made me have no doubt about who had put the thumb tacks in my seat. "Isn't it a wonder, how annoying a little pain can be?"

Things became progressively worse after that.

During class, Kaoru would flick paper wads at my back and when he wasn't doing that, Hikaru would poke me with his pencil and whisper nonsense to me that I couldn't understand. Then the teacher would hear and somehow I was to blame for disrupting class.

On Tuesday during lunch, Momoka noticed a pink substance in my hair. Upon closer inspection I realized — to my disgust — that it was two giant wads of gum. While Momoka and her friends tried figuring out how gum got in my hair, I turned a heated glare on a pair of laughing twins, two tables away.

Wednesday, I opened my locker only to be greeted by an explosion of springy snakes, rubber spiders, inflated frogs, and other creepy-crawlies as they came pouring out like an avalanche.

Not only did it elicit a surprised squeal from me, but numerous girls, and a few boys, in the vicinity ran screaming at the sight. It wouldn't have been so bad, had it not been for the teacher that just happened to pass by. Turned out my homeroom teacher was arachnophobic and she insisted I had scared everyone on purpose and escorted me to the Chairman's office to decide my punishment. With no way to convince her I wasn't the culprit, I had no choice but to follow her. And as I did, I passed the twins who grinned at me like Cheshire cats.

Then, to add insult to injury, the twins seemed to have made it their personal goals to have me suffer from severe paranoia. Between all these pranks, Hikaru and Kaoru would take to finding other ways of tormenting me. Whether it was making snide little comments when no one was around, or causing my books to fall from my hands as they took turns bumping into me in the school corridors. I was becoming so paranoid of Twin-Ambush that I couldn't even walk around a corner without hesitation.

By Thursday, I had all that I could take. I confronted the twins before lunch, intent to give them a piece of my mind.

However, it was hard to look intimidating when I was as wet as a used towel. My hair and clothes were sopping from the last prank the twins had pulled not ten minutes before. I had left class to go to the bathroom before lunch — like I always did — and as soon as I walked back out of the girl's lavatory I was pelted with water balloons. The attack was so sudden that all I could do was raise my arms to protect my face.

After the onslaught was over, I wiped the water from my eyes to see Hikaru and Kaoru standing before me with triumphant grins and laughter echoing in the empty hallway.

Before they were able to leave I moved to stand in their way.

The entire week I had gone without telling anyone about what was going on, even Tori and Joey, and I had refused to acknowledge the twins in hope that they would get bored and just stop, but that hadn't worked either. So I moved to Plan B: confrontation.

Since this was the first time I moved to say anything, the twins looked at me with mildly curious expressions. Before my courage failed me, I told them to stop pestering me and to just go back to ignoring me like they had not a week ago.

* * *

"_We don't feel like it," was their reply._

"_What do you mean you don't feel like it?" I asked._

"_This is a lot more fun than we thought it would be," the one on the right said — I still couldn't tell them apart yet. "There's no way we're giving this up anytime soon."_

_My fists clenched at my side and I glared at the twins. Did they seriously have nothing better to do?_

"_Well that's just dandy for you two, but I have more important things to do than spend my time pulling gum out of my hair and tacks out of my ass. So please just stop it already."_

_The twins looked at each other, and as if they had telepathy, shared a nod before turning identical smirks on me — which by now, I knew meant I was in trouble._

"_Okay," the one on the left said, "We'll leave you alone, but first…"_

"_You'll have to play a game," the one on the right finished._

_I gave them a suspicious look. This had to be a trick, but considering I was getting desperate, I took the bait. "What game?"_

"_The Which One is Hikaru Game," they both declared in unison._

"_What kind of game is that?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow while I crossed my arms._

"_It's simple really. You just have to guess which one of us is Hikaru, and which one of us is Kaoru. If you guess right, we'll stop tormenting you."_

"_But if you guess wrong…" Their grins grew even bigger, causing me to dread even trying to think about what they had in store for me._

"_Fine," I declared, "I'll play."_

_The twins smirked, "Just so you know, no one has ever gotten it right."_

_I huffed before looking at them carefully. I already knew I was just going to have to take a blind guess. I could barely remember which one parted his hair which way, let alone be able to fully tell them apart._

_In the past few weeks, I was only able to peg down one difference between the two, and that was their voices. One twin had a raspier, lighter voice, while the other had a deeper and smoother quality to his. However, since the twins were always together, I still had trouble distinguishing which one belonged to which._

_I sighed before pointing at the one on the right and said, "Tweedle-dee," I then pointed to the one on the left and said, "Tweedle-dumb."_

_The twins' grins slipped into annoyed expressions, which in turn made me smile a bit. It was strangely satisfying to see that there was _something_ that I could do to make their stupid, arrogant smirks disappear._

"_You got it wrong."_

_I shook my head. "I don't think so. From now on you will be called Tweedle-dee," I pointed at the one on the right before turning to the one on the left, "and you will be called Tweedle-dumb. As long as I call you by those names, I'll get it right. So I technically win."_

_"That's not how the game works," the twin on the right said._

_For some reason I was feeling extremely cheeky and I said, "Fine. You want me to guess again?"_

_I then covered my eyes with one hand and started spinning in a circle. When I stopped, I pointed in a random direction and said, "This one is Hikaru."_

_When I uncovered my eyes I saw that I was pointing at a water fountain. "Why Hikaru! You've gained weight!"_

_"That's not funny!"_

_I laughed at the twins' outburst and irritated expressions, glad to see that for once I was getting under their skin instead of the other way around._

_I then put my hands on my hips and said, "And neither are these pranks. I refuse to guess which one is Hikaru and which one is Kaoru when it's obvious I have no clue which one you are. If you really want me to tell you apart, stop playing these silly games."_

_Before the twins could reply, the bell rang and other Ouran students flooded into the halls._

* * *

"And you know the funny thing, Mom? They did stop. They didn't pull anything for the rest of the day, or Friday," I said, knowing my voice was filled with confusion again.

The twins weren't ones to take such simple advice, especially from someone like me. I had a bad feeling that the twins were not done pestering me yet.

Suddenly, a voice sounded over the intercom. "Visitation hours are now over. If any guests are still here, please leave the building. Thank you, and have a good night."

I sighed and stood up. With one last look at my mother, l leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. "I'll see you next week, Mother. I love you."

* * *

Mondays were never my days, and this one was no exception. I had slept through my alarm clock, and only woke up because Joey had accidently dropped one of our bowls in the kitchen. The sound of breaking glass jarred me awake, and after a moment of confusion, I scrambled out of bed. I rushed to brush my teeth while hopping around trying to pull on my uniform. After that, I pulled all my books together and rushed out the door without breakfast or a packed lunch.

I ran all the way to school and had reached my classroom just as the first bell rang, signaling I still had five minutes until class started.

"Pushing your luck today aren't you, Chase-san," my homeroom teacher glowered at me.

Even though I still had five minutes before class technically began, I was sure she wouldn't have cut me any slack. Ever since the whole critters-exploding-from-my-locker-prank Hikaru and Kaoru pulled, she has had it out for me. Especially since the Chairman let me off with nothing more than a metaphorical slap on the hands because he found it so funny.

_At least someone has a sense of humor at this place,_ I thought as I grimaced. When I saw that my teacher was still glaring at me, I bowed and said, "My apologies. It will not happen again."

She huffed before saying, "Take your seat, class is about to begin."

Not wanting to end up in an even deeper hole with her, I complied and swiftly walked to my desk.

My recently acquired paranoia had me checking my seat for any unwanted sharp objects. When I saw there were no tacks in my seat, I placed my bag on my desk to take out my notebook and pencils.

"Morning, Maxine."

My head swiveled around so fast I was at risk for whiplash, but even though I saw Hikaru and Kaoru were pleasantly smiling at me, I still was having trouble believing it.

Now, under normal circumstances that greeting would have been completely ordinary and even reciprocated as such. However, this was not under normal circumstances. To say I was startled was putting it mildly.

I was shocked for two reasons, with the first being that they had spoken to me in a very calm and civilized manner. And given the week I just had, that should have been more than enough cause for my confusion.

However, I was more confused by the fact they had addressed me by my actual name. Since day one, the twins had called me "Scarface" or "commoner". This was the first time they had ever actually said my name.

I was so blindsided by this new angle that I found I couldn't say anything back, and I only stared at them with my mouth gapping open like a codfish.

One of the twins cleared his throat to gain my attention. "You know it's polite to say something back, Maxine."

I was finally able to snap from my stupor. I shook my head before looking at the twins with obvious suspicion. "What are you two playing at now?"

Both twins feinted hurt looks. The one that sat cattycorner to me — Kaoru, if he and his brother didn't switch their assigned seating — said, "Maxine, we're only trying to be polite, but we understand your doubt. Hikaru and I discussed things, and we agreed that our actions towards you were completely uncalled for. We only hope that you can forgive our past transgressions and we can all start over."

If Kaoru seriously thought I would buy that load of trash, he could forget it, and I gave him a look that told him so. I was about to tell him that he and Hikaru could shove their apology up their asses, but the final bell rang, forcing me to take my seat.

The teacher started her lecture over British Literature and I tried paying close attention and took avid notes, but as class went on I became less and less attentive.

Hikaru and Kaoru's sudden change in behavior was eating at me. They had changed their angle, but I couldn't figure out why. My mind drifted from Milton's _Paradise Lost_ to any and every scenario my mind could think of that would explain the twin's sudden change in tactics.

I knew that they were far from finished with me, and even if they were it wouldn't have been like this. Hikaru and Kaoru were more the type to make their target suffer to their last breath than to let them walk away just like that.

Even so, if I couldn't figure out _why_ they changed their tactics, I should probably concentrate on their new one. This little nice guy farce couldn't be all, but I wasn't sure where they were going to go with it.

I was suddenly brought out of my musing when I noticed my fellow students were whispering excitedly to one another. I obviously had not been listening to the lecture for the past few minutes, so I had no clue what was going on. I decided the best thing for me to do was to eavesdrop on the conversation the two girls beside me were having.

"Groups of three? That means I could be paired with Hikaru _and_ Kaoru!"

The girl in front of her gave her a look, "Not if I'm paired with them first."

The two girls proceeded to glare at each other, as if the winner would determine the groups.

_Groups of three? Does that mean we're doing another project?_

I looked up at the dry-erase board to see there were instructions on creating a full report on any famous British Literature book on the given list.

_Seems easy enough_, I thought as I looked over the list. Most of the books I had already read. _But who will I be paired with?_

I wasn't sure if the groups were decided by the teacher or the students, but if they were determined by the students…I looked over to where Momoka was sitting to see she and one of the girls we sat with at lunch were talking. As if sensing my gaze, Momoka looked my way and caught my eye. We both smiled at each other with understanding that we wanted to be partners.

The teacher had some trouble quieting everyone down, but when she finally did, she pulled out a clipboard and pen.

"It's so good to see everyone's so excited about our group projects! Now is there anyone who would like to pick their partners before I start to randomly select them?"

A few hands shot in the air and I saw that Momoka's was one of them. The teacher looked around before she started picking students and writing their names down with their desired partners.

"Hikaru-san? Why, it's unusual for you to volunteer. I suspect you want to be partnered with your brother, yes?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"You'll need one more. Shall I randomly assign someone to your group?"

"No ma'am, we've already picked someone to be in our group."

The classroom became a buzz with chatter again as everyone started whispering to each other.

"The Hitachiin twins _want_ someone in their group?"

"They only like themselves, it must be a joke."

"Oh man, I hope it's me!"

"Please, they'd want someone much prettier than you in their group. Like me, for instance."

"Oh get over yourself."

It seemed like I was the only one who hadn't started gossiping about the twins' sudden involvement with their class. And I think it was because of the sinking feeling in my gut.

_Please, please, don't let it be me._

"Everyone, please be quiet. Now Hikaru, who do you want in your group?"

_Dear merciful lord in heaven, please don't let it be me._

"Maxine Chase."

_Mondays are definitely not my days. _

* * *

A/N: I apologize to my last two reviewers. I told them this would be out on the 25th but I had meant to put of February, not January. My apologizes. Hopefully the fact that this chapter was 14 pages in Word will make up for it. Also note that this chapter was inspired by the song Two Against One by Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi. Check out the song, it gives a good feel of the mood of this chapter. Reviews and questions are more than welcomed.

-blue


	5. Oh Glory

**All the Right Moves**

Chapter 5:

_Oh glory_

_I think I see you 'round the bend_

_And I think I'd try any poison to get there in the end_

Oh Glory by Panic! At the Disco

* * *

"One." I took a deep breath as I placed my right foot in front of my body and held my arms above my head.

"Two." I pointed my toes and tapped my right foot in time with my count.

"Three." I pushed forward — my head pulled down as I pushed off my right foot and back left foot, launching myself off the balance beam. Without using my hands, my body twisted in midair and I landed back on the beam only a few feet away. I didn't even have a balance check this time.

I smiled at my accomplishment. That skill was much harder than people gave it credit for, and since beam was my least favorite apparatus, I found it to be quite a feat. I gave myself a metaphorical pat on the back before I turned and walked to the end of the beam, determined to repeat the skill. After all, practice made perfect.

"One." I placed my arms above my head again, and straightened my legs as I had before.

"Two." I took a deep breath, preparing for the launch.

"Thr—"

"MAXI!"

"AH!"

Let me just say that I startle easily. So when I screamed in pure terror — and I mean a girly embarrassing scream — I ironically lost my balance on the balance beam in a very ungraceful manor. Luckily the mats were there to break my fall…and my head. Seriously, these mats are as soft as pillowed bricks.

I groaned as my hand flew up to massage the newly formed bump on my head. Once I was sure I wasn't suffering from a concussion, I turned a glare onto the cause of my fall. It was a bubbling blonde with a giant goofy grin splashed across his face, and he was making a bee line straight towards me.

"That was amazing, Maxi! What move was that?"

"It's called a Front Aerial, Tamaki," I sighed as I stood up. Had it have been anyone else, I probably would have chewed them a new one. But this was Tamaki Suoh, and by now I was so use to eccentric personality that I didn't even bother. It would just go over the dope's head anyway.

_Tamaki Suoh,_ I repeated his name in my head as I watched the tall blonde before me. He was completely oblivious to my irritated expression, and had already launched into talking about something or another. I didn't even bother to try to keep up with his paroxysmal mind, it was usually to much of a bother. _What a goofball,_ I smiled as I was brought back to the day I had first met him.

It was on Ouran's initiation day for new students. Rumor had it, Ouran's Chairman's son had transferred to the school the same semester I had, but at the time I didn't realize it was Tamaki. After the welcoming ceremony, the transfer students were left to mingle for half an hour before the Chairman gave his speech.

There were only a handful of transfer students and every one had an air of aristocracy about them. Being the only middle-class student there, I had felt self conscious and shy, but hopeful to make at least one acquaintance. However, every time I made eye contact, they would either pretend they didn't see me or would stick their nose in the air. I had more or less expected this, so I just sat by myself and pulled a book out of my bag, hoping the time would pass by quickly.

Then, I had felt a pair of eyes on me and I looked up to see a handsome blonde boy walking straight towards me. His violet-blue eyes bore right into mine. I remember my heart had palpitated rapidly, as I had never been approached by such a good looking male before. At first I even thought I was just fooling myself and he was going to walk right past me, but then he stopped before me with a breathtaking smile and said, "_My, what a lovely young lady you are, miss."_ He bent to take my hand and then kissed the knuckles,_ "My name is Tamaki Suoh, and may I ask what is yours, my beautiful princess?"_

Of all the things I could have done at that moment, I probably did what no other girl had done to him before: I laughed in his face.

See, I was so shocked by the fact Tamaki had called me _beautiful_ and _princess _that I laughed purely out of a panic reflex. Honestly. I had no clue what else to do. Ever since I had gotten my scars, the only people that called me beautiful were Tori and Joey.

I couldn't take a compliment — sue me.

Anyways, Tamaki was beyond appalled with my attitude. He began to lecture me about how I should take pride in my appearance. That "i_t's a person's scars that makes them beautiful_."

The initial glamor of meeting him wore off quickly. I didn't pay him much attention when he began to monologue and flail his arms about. I think he even started to tear up at the end of his speech, but I could be wrong. It had been over a month since then and my memory was a bit foggy. All in all, it didn't take me long to figure out he was a compete idiot.

_He's a kind-hearted idiot, though,_ I thought with a smile. And he had unwittingly proven this to me as our time in the Academy went on.

When classes started, I figured Tamaki would ignore me like a broken toy. Tamaki was charming and easily made friends with everyone, so he quickly became very popular around the school. I, with my commoner status, scarred features, and unsure disposition, was quite the unpopular wallflower. When he saw what I was to others, he would treat me the same.

However, it turned out to be quite the opposite. Tamaki didn't avoid me, in fact he went out of his way to find me. Even when he was with his friends that stuck up their nose, he would stop me in the hallways and ask me about my day. Tamaki treated me as if I was no different than anyone else.

And I found it hard to believe. For the longest time I thought Tamaki was just screwing with me; playing some secret sick joke behind my back with all his snobby rich kid friends. Play nice with the commoner, then make fun of her behind her back sort of thing.

Then he would do things that would make me question my theory. He would perform little kindnesses or come talk to me when I was alone (like we were now), all of which made me slowly come to realize Tamaki was completely genuine. Slowly, I had become aware of the fact he wasn't like all the other rich kids at this school. And as the days went by, I grew to enjoy his company. Somehow, I became friends with Tamaki Suoh.

A hand waving in front of my face brought me from my thoughts to reality. "Maxi, are you even listening to me?"

I frowned at Tamaki and swatted his hand away. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Maxi? Only my brother calls me that."

Tamaki looked overdramatically devastated at my words. Tears formed in his eyes and he withdrew from me as if I had struck him. "B-but Maxi…I am your brother! And you are my darling little sister!" And just like that, the bipolar blonde had me wrapped in a bone crushing hug.

Oh, did I forget to mention that this guy was convinced he's my older brother?

"Let go of me, you dope," I exclaimed as I scrambled out of his arms. Once I was out, I gave Tamaki a deathly look and tried to fix my disheveled hair at the same time. "Is there a reason you're disturbing me during practice? You know if Kinmu-sensei finds you in here she'll ream your neck, even if you are the Chairman's son."

Tamaki's face visible paled several shades at the mention of the terrifying woman. He had met her once — the last time he had bothered me during practice in fact — and that was all it took for the mere mention of her name to make him shake in his metaphorical — but still expensive — boots.

Tamaki got a grip on himself before he spoke. He cleared his throat before saying, "Maxi —,"

"Stop calling me Maxi."

"— I have finally decided…"

When he didn't finish, I gave him a look and said, "finally decideeeeed…what?"

"What I'm going to do with myself next year when I enter into the high school! I told you before that I can't let my stunning good looks and excellent social standing go to waste!"

I rolled my eyes before hoisting myself up to sit on the balance beam that I had fallen off not five minutes ago. I brought my right let up and wrapped my arms around it while letting my other leg dangle. I rested my chin on my knee and said, "Oh yeah? And what's that, Tamaki?"

"I'm going to start a club!"

His declaration was met with silence. I even think I heard a cricket chirp somewhere.

I looked up at him, trying to gauge if this was joke or not. When he gave me a look like he wanted me to say something, I realized he was being completely serious.

"Oh…" was the first brilliant thing I could think to say. "That's um…cool."

Tamaki's shoulders slumped and he looked at me as if he had expected me to say more. "Is that all you have to say, Maxi?"

"Um…what kind of club are you thinking about?"

Tamaki — being the ever bipolar blonde — made a one-eighty from disappointed to thinker. "That's why I'm here! I can't come up with something that this wonderful school doesn't already offer its students. I was hoping you might have an idea!"

I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation. Of course Tamaki hadn't thought his idea completely through. While the guy was brimming with ideas, he had no idea how to execute them. He needed someone to do that, but I wasn't that person. I didn't have time, nor the energy to keep the blonde boy in check. "Tamaki, how would I know what you want your club to be about?"

Tamaki shrugged. "I was hoping your commoner wisdom would kick in."

I scoffed before I looked at the clock on the wall and realized it was time for me to go. I was supposed to meet the twins at their home to do our project in about half an hour. I hopped off the beam and walked to my bag to pull out a black v-neck and yoga pants. As I pulled on my pants over my spandex shorts, Tamaki stood behind me.

"You even have them on your back."

His unusually calm voice surprised me, so I looked over my shoulder to see that Tamaki's eyes were scanning over my back. The way his mouth was set in a somber expression made it clear what he thought.

I realized that the plunging back on my mid-drift showing tank top exposed most of the scars on my back. I had completely forgotten that I was wearing quite a revealing outfit for practice. The fact I was in front of Tamaki in such attire made me cringe. In general, I was fairly a modest person when it came to showing my body. I wasn't sure if that was because of the scars or because of my upbringing. It was probably a bit of both.

Either way, I quickly pulled my shirt on over my small tank top, covering the scars from his sight. I picked up my bag and attempted a smile, but my lips only twitched into an uneasy grimace. Attempting humor, I said, "Ugly, aren't they?" It sounded like bitter sarcasm, though.

Tamaki's frown turned into a smile. "I think they're beautiful."

My frown turned into an angry scowl and I almost snapped a rude remark at him. But then I saw the sincerity in his eyes and my anger deflated. I once again realized he wasn't being malicious nor mocking. Tamaki was only speaking his mind, and he was completely genuine.

I sighed and rolled my eyes at Tamaki. There was no point in trying to reason with a fool, but I couldn't help saying, "and I think you're an idiot."

I headed for the doors and said, "Lock up the doors when you leave. If you don't, I'll tell Kinmu-sensei that it was you."

"But wait," Tamaki flailed as I walked past him. "What about my club?"

"Tamaki, you're the one with the _stunning good looks _and _excellent social standing_. Not to mention you have way too much time on your hands. You'll think of something."

"Wait! Maxi, don't —"

The door shut behind me before Tamaki could finish. I chuckled as I made my way out of the school.

_"I think they're beautiful."_

I chuckled again and said, "kind-hearted idiot, indeed."

* * *

"_This_ is the twin's house?" My mouth fell open as I gawked at the sight before me. Maybe _house_ was an understatement because the work house suggested modesty. The Hitachiin home was an estate complete with a beautiful front lawn enclosed by a high steel fence and gate.

The gate, which I was currently standing in front of, could not be opened by a simple push, and as there was no one there to help me, I was currently stumped on how I was suppose to get in. I looked between the bars to see the twin's home stood at least fifty meters away, but there wasn't a soul in sight. Wasn't there suppose to be security guards or something around here? I looked down at the piece of paper in my hand, which had the twin's address on it, to make sure I was at the right place. When I confirmed it was, I looked around for a way in.

My eyes fell on a little black box beside the concrete driveway. I walked over to it and pushed a red button beside a speaker. A moment later, the camera lens above the speaker moved to focus in my direction.

"Business hours with Hitachiin-sama are only taken at the office. If you want to make an appointment with her, I suggest you go there. If you wish to express your appreciation for her work, please do so via letter or email," a male voice droned as if he had repeated that line for the hundredth time today.

It took me a moment to realize the man was talking about Hikaru and Kaoru's mother. She was a famous clothing designer — one that my sister adored — and was in high demand. The security guy probably thought I was either a new business client or a rabid fan.

"I also suggest you leave the premises immediately or you will be removed by force."

_Oh crap,_ I thought as I quickly scrambled to press the button to speak in the microphone, not wanting to be chased off by the authorities. "I'm not here for Hitachiin-sama. I attend school with her sons: Hikaru and Kaoru. We have a class project to work on, and they told me to come over."

"Let me check real quickly, kid. What's your name?"

"Maxine Chase," I said, even though it sounded more like a question due to the double in my voice — which was stupid considering I obviously knew my name. Authority figures just made me nervous.

I was answered with silence, so I figured the guard left his post to go figure out if I should be let in or not. How irritating.

_The twins either forgot to notify their security or they did it on purpose just for_ spite, I thought as I crossed my arms, _and__ something tells me it's the lateral._

Another moment passed before a buzzer-like noise came from the gate and it started to open.

"You are permitted to enter, Chase-san."

"First I'm _kid_, and now I'm _Chase-san_," I scoffed softly as I walked through the gate and down the road towards the estate. "That was easy. I guess the twins did remember."

It was a fairly long walk to the estate, so my eyes began to roam over my surroundings. Besides the concrete driveway, everything within the gated land was green and lush. Flowers were strategically planted to complement the yard ornaments and cherry blossom trees throughout the garden. The fountain surrounded by red rose bushes in particular caught my eye.

"Well the twins' parents sure can hire one hell of a landscaping team," I laughed.

Suddenly, my serene sightseeing was interrupted by the sound of dogs barking. I ignored it — figuring it was just the neighbor's dogs or something — and continued on my way. But then I heard it again, only this time the dogs sounded closer.

Confused, I stopped and looked in the general direction the barking was coming from. I heard it again, and again the dogs sounded closer than before. Suddenly, two large Dobermans appeared over the hill about fifteen meters away.

I froze at the sight of the vicious looking dogs. In general I liked dogs — cats…not so much — and gave most unfamiliar dogs the benefit of the doubt. But these dogs did not look friendly at all with their pinned back ears and barred teeth.

For a second, none of us moved. Then, due to my ridiculous fortune, my book bag somehow slid off the slope of my shoulder and to the ground. That was all the dogs needed to spring into action. They launched themselves forward, and I took off sprinting.

Now, I was no cliché blonde bimbo in a bad slasher flick. I knew I couldn't out run these hell hounds for long, and I knew I would need to get out of their reach before I became their new chew toy. The Hitachiin home wasn't an option since I was still about twenty meters away from there, and the dogs would catch me before I could even ring the doorbell.

Suddenly, a low, cherry blossom tree branch caught my eye, and without giving it a second thought, I put on an extra burst of speed. When I was in reach, I jumped and grabbed the branch with both hands and swung around it like I would the uneven bars apparatus to pull myself up.

I did it just in the nick of time too. The Dobermans had reached the base of the tree just as I stood on the branch, using the trunk as support. The dogs watched me and I could practically see the anger rolling off of them.

"Ha!" I yelled in triumph and stuck out my tongue. "Bet you wish you two could climb this tree, huh? But whose species is it that has opposable thumbs? Oh that's right, not yours!"

Suddenly, one of the dogs took a running jump and was able to scale the tree about a solid meter. It still was too far away from me, and when gravity took its toll, the dog tried to stretch its neck to snap a bite. It came closer, but still fell short.

I let loose an embarrassing squeak — for the second time today — and quickly scaled a few more branches. Just in case.

When I was sure I was safely out of reach, I sat on a branch and rested my cheek on my fist. "Well, crap. What do I do now?"

I was basically a sitting duck until someone came out and found me. Maybe when the dogs fell asleep I could make a run for it. Or I could try jumping from tree to tree until I could reach the wall. Actually…those both sounded like terrible ideas. I was a gymnast, not a squirrel.

The sound of a whistle caught my ears, as did the two dogs'.

The Dobermans perked up and they switched from vicious-killing-guard-dogs to lovable-happy-go-luck-dogs. They took off running towards the whistle, and I followed them with my eyes to see Hikaru and Kaoru walking my way. One of them was carrying my bag that I dropped.

When the dogs reached the twins, Hikaru and Kaoru bent down to pet the dogs like they were adorable house pets. The twin with my bag looked up at me and said, "Wow, they got you pretty far up there, huh?"

I gave him a look that said I was not at all amused, and I bit the inside of my cheek like I always did when I was irritated. However, figuring the dogs were no longer going to attack me, I started to climb down.

Nope.

As soon as my foot reached a lower branch, the dogs were back on full attack mode. They turned to run back to my tree, making me freeze in place.

"Now, now guys. You've done your job. Go back inside," the twin without my bag said and pulled out a treat from his pocket. The dogs ran back to him and ate the treats happily before running back towards the house.

With the dogs gone, both the twins looked up at me with their usual identical smirks. "You can come down now."

_Arrogant jerks,_ I thought as I jumped down from the tree and landed on the balls of my feet — gymnastics can teach you to stick just about any landing.

"Hope they didn't scare you too bad," the one with my bag said.

"You'll have to forgive them. They're trained to attack any foreign scent that is unusual around here, and your commoner smell just made them go crazy. Had we of know it was you, we wouldn't have let them loose," the other brother shrugged.

My jaw dropped and I looked at the twins with disbelief. "_You _let those dogs out? You idiots! I could have been mauled!"

They brothers raised their hands up like they didn't think it was a big deal. "I don't see why you're upset by that possibly happening."

"You already look like you've been mauled."

"Hey, maybe that's how she got them," one said as if the idea had just dawned on him.

"I bet it was by a bear."

"I'm thinking a tiger."

The twin's looks turned to mischievous curiosity and they asked, "Which is it? Did we guess right?"

I scoffed at their blatant audacity. I snatched my bag from the one on the right and said, "That is none of your damn business."

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist," one said as he moved to rest his arm on my shoulder as if I was a side table. The other moved to mirror his brother on my other shoulder. "Yeah, we're just curious. You should hear the rumors around the school. People have come up with crazier ideas than tigers and bears. If you tell us, we might be able to clear those up for you."

I scoffed again and pushed them off of me as I started walking towards their home. I was well aware of the rumors my fellow classmates have come up with about my scars, and I had no interest in telling the twins so they could "clear it all up". Even if I wanted to tell them, I couldn't. My amnesia prevented me from remembering how I got my scars. "Whatever. I don't care. Let's just get this project over with. The sooner I get home, the better."

I had only been here for ten minutes and I was already ready to leave. I took a deep breath and reminded myself that I only had to be here for as long as it took to finish the project. Then I could leave and never have to see the twins outside of school again.

"Aw, do we have to start working now?" One twin asked as he started walking on my right while his brother took to my left side.

"Yes," I snapped as the door opened for us. A butler stepped out and greeted us with a bow. I was about to say thank you, but the twins ignored him and steered me away and inside their home before I could.

"Why are you being so snappy," One asked as they led me up some stairs.

"Yeah, shouldn't you be a little happier? After all, if we hadn't come along, you'd have been in that tree till nightfall. Our security guards don't start their patrols 'til then."

"Might I remind you, that I was chased up that tree in the first place _because of you two_."

"Minor details," the twins choired with a shrug.

"You two are unbelievable," I muttered under my breath.

"Thanks," they replied, completely oblivious to the fact that was an insult.

The twins led me to what looked like a well furnished living room. Judging by the large amount of video games and toys scattered around the room, I ventures a safe guess to say that it was their own personal living room. As my eyes roamed the room, the twins walked over to a large, expensive looking oak table that already had their laptops and a blank poster board laying on it.

"I'm so not in the mood for this," the twin to my right said. I was starting to think it was Kaoru, simply because his hair was parted to the right and his voice was lighter, and if I remembered right, Kaoru had a bit of a rasp to his voice too. I would have to check if I ever get the twins separate at some point. Either way, I was just going to stick to that because I was getting tired of calling them "the twin on the right" and "the twin on the left" in my head.

"Me neither," the other one, Hikaru, said.

Both turned to look at me and smiled like Cheshire cats. "We should play a game."

"No way," I instantly said. "We were given all week in class to finish the project, and you two spent that time goofing off. If you had helped me, like you were suppose to, we would have been done by now. You guys could have been playing all the games you want, and I wouldn't have had to come here."

"Oh, please. As if you weren't curious about where we lived," Kaoru said as he leaned against the table and crossed his arms.

"This is probably the biggest house you've ever been in. I bet you live in a shack, huh?" Hikaru smirked.

A blush heated my cheeks before I could stop it because he was almost right. My family's tiny little apartment was so shoddy that it was barely a step above a shack. But the twins didn't need to know that. "That is beside the point. What I'm saying is, it's bad enough that you two roped me into being your partner, but the fact that I have done all the work this past week, has put me in a less than stellar mood. So yes, I just want to get this done and go home."

The twins pouted at me. "You're no fun, Max."

Hikaru looked over at his brother and said, "I think she needs to play a game to loosen up some. Don't you, Kaoru?"

_Oh. So I did guess right. He is Kaoru. Score: one, for Max,_ I felt a ridiculous sense of triumph at that.

"I couldn't agree more," Kaoru smiled back at his brother. "Let's play—"

"I'm not playing the _Which One is Hikaru Game_."

The twins pouted again, "Aw, why not?"

"Because our report is due tomorrow, and, if you two didn't realize it, this is worth twenty percent of our Literature grade. I'm terrible at this subject and I need this grade to keep my GPA up. If I don't, then I could lose my scholarship to this school."

Kaoru's face actually became somewhat serious and he asked, "You could lose your scholarship over this?"

"Yes. Student athletes at Ouran have to keep at least a three point three GPA, and I'm sitting right at that. I can't afford to let my grades get any lower," I replied as I opened my bag and pulled out the report I had worked all week on. For some godforsaken reason, our teacher wanted it completely hand written instead of typed. Something about it would make the project feel more authentic — I had no clue how. "Now, I have already written our seven paged report. All we need to do is put together a presentation on the poster board to go along with it. That part shouldn't take too long — hey!"

While I was eyeing our poster board, trying to map out where everything would go, Hikaru had reached forward and snatched the report from my hand.

"Blah, blah, blah. Max, you need to learn that all work and no play just isn't the way to live."

I lunged to get the pages back, but Hikaru stood up straight and held them above his head. He was a good three inches taller than me and had super long arms, so even when I jumped the report was still out of my reach. "This isn't funny, Hikaru. Give that back!"

"Come on, Max. I know a game we could play," Hikaru said as he stepped out of my reach.

"No. We don't have time for this," I said as I reached for the pages again. "This isn't some game Hikaru, and I'm not here for your entertainment."

"Of course you are. Right, Kaoru?" Hikaru asked, looking over at his brother who had been strangely quiet while Hikaru teased me.

Kaoru's head popped up as if his brother had snapped him out of his thoughts. Kaoru looked at his brother before looking at me and smirked. "Right," he replied as he stood up and took the report from his brother. Now Kaoru was the one holding it out of my reach. "You're just too much fun to mess with, Max. We haven't had a toy as fun as you in a long time."

His words made me paused in my attempt to recover my report. I stepped back and gave the twins a strange look. "Toy? What the hell is that suppose to mean? I'm not a play thing, let along _yours_."

The twins gave me a smirk that said they thought quite the contrary.

"So come on, let's play," Hikaru said, grabbing the report from his brother. "If you can catch me, I'll give you your papers back and Kaoru and I will do all the work on the poster board. But, if you can't catch me, then this report is history."

"You wouldn't do that," I stated while crossing my arms. "This is just as much your grade as it is mine. Even you two aren't stupid enough to sabotage yourselves."

The twins grinned at me and said, "Oh, is that what you think?"

Not liking the sound of that, I asked, "What is that suppose to mean?"

"Think about it, Max. On top of the fact Hikaru and I are making near perfect grades in Literature, the teacher loves us. Even if she didn't, do you think we couldn't convince her that you were the one not doing any work all week?"

The blood froze in my veins. They were right. Somehow, the twins had our teacher wrapped around their fingers — I have no idea why she loved the little devils, but she did — and she has had it out for me since the Hell Week with the twins. Even if those odds weren't against me, the twins' family was so prominent and wealthy that they could get away with murder at that school, let alone getting out of a measly literature project.

There was no way I could rewrite that report _and_ put together the poster board all in one night on top of doing my other homework. I was completely at the twins' mercy.

"Why are you two doing this?" I asked. "Is this because of what happened with Sasshi? Are you two so petty that you'll sabotage my grade for a bit of revenge?"

"Guess you'll find out."

And with that, Hikaru took the report and ran out the door with it.

I quickly snapped into action and ran after him. I could hear Kaoru running behind me. Hikaru was faster than I thought, and I was about a good two meters behind him and closing.

But Hikaru wasn't an athlete. I on the other hand, had been in gymnastics since before I could remember — no pun intended — and my lungs had been conditioned for strenuous activity such as sprinting for long periods of time. Anyone could do the math. He was going to get tired soon and slow down, and when he did…he was so dead.

Hikaru seemed to have realized this too as he took as many turns down the endless amount of hallways in his home as he could, trying to shake me off his trail. Too bad for him, I was more than able to keep up and I was slowly closing the distance between us.

Suddenly, a maid with a laundry basket in hand appeared at the end of the hallway the three of us were currently in. Instead of slowing down to avoid her, Hikaru moved to smack the basket out of her hands as he ran by. The basket fell to the floor and the fresh linen fell in a pile. The maid squeaked with fright and when she saw Kaoru and I coming, she pushed against the wall so she wouldn't be knocked over.

I didn't slow down as I came upon the basket of spilt clothes that blocked my path. Instead, I hurtled it without hesitation. "Sorry," I threw over my shoulder at the maid as I continued chasing Hikaru. When I turned back, I just barely caught a glimpse of Hikaru's foot disappearing behind the front door.

I heard the sound of a body hitting the floor behind me and I figured Kaoru must have tripped behind me. I ignored him and stopped running only for a second to open the door to continue chasing after Hikaru. When I was outside, my stomach dropped for a minute when I suddenly lost sight of Hikaru. Then I spotted him by the water fountain with the red rose bushes. He had his hand with my papers extended over the water.

"Please don't, Hikaru," I pleaded as I stood before him.

"I'm not Hikaru."

His reply stunned me.

"What are you talking about? You've been calling your brother Kaoru, and he's been calling you Hikaru all this time," I commented even though my voice wavered with doubt.

"We did that on purpose, just to see if you'd catch on," I heard the other twin say as he walked from behind me to stand next to his brother.

I gave them a look over. Could they be lying? I was so sure that I had them right earlier. But now…I looked back and forth between Hikaru and Kaoru trying to see some indication. Finally I said, "I think you're lying."

The twins raised their eyebrows at me, "Is that so? What's your reason?"

Honestly, I had no clue. I was completely blowing it out my rear end, but I had to keep them distracted enough to get my papers back. The twins seemed to have noticed the hesitation in my eyes and said, "Then let's make it official and end the game. Pick which one of us is Hikaru, and which one of us is Kaoru."

I wanted nothing more than to scream in frustration. I was so angry right now that I was surprised steam wasn't coming out of my ears. "Okay you've got me. I have no solid reason. But I want to know, why do you two want me to play this game so bad? I already told you that I can't tell you apart. So why do you keep asking?"

They ignored my question and said, "If that's your answer, then you lose."

Hikaru then slowly started to release my papers. The introduction page was the first to fall into the water, and it only took that one page for me to snap. Now normally, I wasn't a violent person, but a girl can only be pushed so far. I launched myself at Hikaru.

He was so surprised that he wasn't able to brace himself and we both tumbled to the ground. I ended up on top of him and I wasted no time in trying to get my papers back. A few had fallen from his grasp and scattered on the ground around us, but there were still a few in his grasp. I reached up for them, but Hikaru had his arm around my waist, making it hard for me to move.

"Get off me!" He yelled.

"Give it back!" I retorted.

We tussled on the ground for a while, with me grappling for the papers and him trying to keep them away from me. Then, I felt a pair of arms encircle my waist and pull me off of Hikaru.

"Calm down, Max!" Kaoru's voice exclaimed from behind me.

He didn't seem to understand that I was beyond reason now. I struggled in his arms and, without really thinking, I used one of the moves Joey taught me a few years back for self defense. I took my elbow and slammed it into Kaoru's diaphragm as hard as I could.

Kaoru grunted in pain and let me go. Hikaru's eyes widened and he dropped what was left of my report when he saw his brother doubled over. He rushed to his brother's side and helped Kaoru stand. "Kaoru! Are you okay?"

From the expression on Hikaru's face, you'd think Kaoru was dying. Which was ridiculous since the worst Kaoru could have possible suffer from that pitiful hit was getting the wind knocked out of him. I couldn't fathom why Hikaru was freaking out so bad.

"I'm fine, Hikaru." Kaoru winched and held his diaphragm. He sounded winded but unharmed. Hikaru, however, seemed to think otherwise and rounded on me with a look of pure rage. "What did you do that for? It was just a joke! We weren't really going to do it! Get a sense of humor, why don't you?"

"Get a sense of humor…_Get a sense of humor?_" I yelled at him in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me!

"First, you sick your guard dogs on me, then you insult me and call me your freaking toy, and to top it all off, you basically threaten to ruin my chances of staying at Ouran Academy!" I ticked off each strike on my fingers, totaling up to four. "And then you have the _audacity_ to tell me to _get a sense of humor_? You two are beyond unbelievable! You're…you're…Ah!"

I didn't even have the right words to describe the twins from hell.

The twins moved to say something but I cut them off. There was _no way_ I was going to stop now. "But you know what? Go ahead and throw my report in the water. Because at least when I get kicked out of Ouran, I'll never have to see either of your faces ever again!" With that I turned around and stalked towards the gate.

I was done playing these stupid games.

* * *

A/N: I apologize. I had meant for this chapter to be posted yesterday. But as I read over it, I found myself not happy and I damn nearly scraped all of it besides the basic structure of the chapter. I spent all yesterday and most of today rewriting this chapter and I'm still not that happy with it. I'm posting now because I said I'd post it yesterday and I didn't want to make y'all wait any longer. This thing is probably riddled with grammar errors and such, but I'll check over them later and repost this chapter as more presentable. I just didn't want y'all to wait any longer. So please, forgive and keep reading. I have greatly enjoyed each review and I hope they keep coming.

In hopes that you'll forgive me, I'll tell y'all what will be going on in the next two chapters. In chapter six, we will see what happens with the outcome of the project. And the twins and Max are going to make a deal. In chapter seven, we will get to see Kyoya again. The tension between Max and Kyoya is going to get just a little bit thicker. ;)

-blue


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